Rand Merchant Bank’s Where to Invest in Africa series has a new runner-up: Morocco, which overtook South Africa in the edition released on Tuesday. The Johannesburg-based financial group attributes the result to sustained policy choices rather than short-term momentum, writing that Morocco’s improvement reflects “years of successful industrialisation, export diversification and infrastructure investment.”
The bank frames Morocco’s ascent as the product of deliberate economic strategy. “The country has emerged as one of Africa’s leading manufacturing hubs, particularly in automotive production, while maintaining macroeconomic stability and attracting substantial foreign direct investment,” the report stated. That combination, RMB argued, has allowed the North African kingdom to build an industrial base capable of competing for investment across the continent.
For South Africa, the verdict is more measured. The country “continues to benefit from deep financial markets, improving energy security, and reform momentum, but slower growth has seen it narrowly lose ground this year,” RMB said. The finding points to a structural question for policymakers in Pretoria: whether ongoing reforms can translate into growth rates strong enough to defend the country’s traditional standing as the continent’s industrial anchor.
The numbers behind the swap are stark. Morocco’s economy expanded 4.9% in 2025, against 1.1% for South Africa, whose far larger industrial base has been held back by years of weak growth and infrastructure bottlenecks. RMB presents the shift as evidence of a broader change in Africa’s industrial landscape, one in which manufacturing expansion and foreign capital inflows are reshaping which economies investors prioritise.
The ranking itself rests on a defined methodology. RMB assesses 31 nations using 20 metrics grouped into four pillars: economic performance and potential, market accessibility and innovation, the investment climate, and social and human development. At the top of the table, Seychelles, Mauritius and Egypt retained their positions for the third consecutive year, a consistency RMB noted in its release.
Meanwhile, movement further down the rankings tells its own story about governance and policy credibility. Nigeria recorded the largest improvement, climbing seven places to 11th. RMB linked that rise directly to policy decisions, saying the removal of fuel subsidies, the liberalisation of the foreign-exchange market and statistical reforms “are resetting its economy on a more sustainable course.” The bank’s language places the credit with the reform agenda itself, framing the country’s gains as the return on difficult fiscal choices.
Senegal moved in the opposite direction, suffering the steepest decline in this year’s edition by falling five places to 19th. RMB attributed the drop to political turbulence, a fiscal-credibility crisis, sovereign credit downgrades and structural weaknesses that have “taken a toll” on the country’s investment standing. The assessment underscores how quickly investor confidence can erode when political stability and fiscal management come into question.
Taken together, this year’s ranking suggests that investment flows across the continent are increasingly following policy performance. Countries that have delivered industrial strategy, macroeconomic stability and credible reform, such as Morocco and Nigeria, have gained ground, while those facing political disruption and fiscal strain have slipped. For South Africa, the narrow loss of its traditional second-place position serves as a signal that deep financial markets and reform momentum alone may not be enough to offset persistently slow growth.
The full report is available via the reference publication at https://clubofmozambique.com/news/morocco-tops-south-africa-in-rmb-continental-investment-ranking/