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Nigeria’s banks have been through some challenging times in recent years, but for all their travails, they have turned in an impressive performance and continue to present a compelling narrative to foreign investors. However, the challenging times are not over just yet. West Africa’s largest banking sector – accounting for74% of regional banking assets and now fully recovered from its last crisis in 2009 – is facing structural changes that affect its traditional profitability drivers. The recent benchmark interest rate hike by the Central Bank of Nigeria, to 13%, and the devaluation of the naira, down by nearly 30% in just three months to $1:N198, are likely to affect debt servicing on loans denominated in foreign currency. As banks increase their exposure to large corporate deals at ever slimmer margins, they are being prodded to expand their retail and SME loan books to offset drops in traditional revenue streams. The resolution of the last banking crisis, and likely arrival of new players, should boost competition and prompt lenders to develop the data ecosystems needed to tap the retail market. \ This chapter contains a viewpoint from Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and an interview with Daniel Monehin, Division President, Sub-Saharan Africa, MasterCard.

As the world’s seventh-most-populous country and its 26th-largest economy, Nigeria boasts a medium-sized middle class in absolute, if not relative, terms, and benefits from having had its first peaceful handover of power since 1999 following the presidential electoral victory in March 2015 of Muhammadu Buhari over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. Although it is on track to become one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020, with average annual growth of 7% in the past decade, Nigeria requires significant private and foreign investment to attain its economic and human development goals. As part of the Jonathan administration’s Transformation Agenda efforts have been made to ease bottlenecks to growth, ranging from power generation and distribution to the agricultural value chain, premised on total infrastructure spending of $2.9trn over the next 30 years. While the economic policy of the incoming Buhari administration had yet to be clarified at the time of printing, investors expect the structural changes that have already been launched – ranging from power-sector restructuring to streamlining rules for doing business – to be seen through. This chapter contains interviews with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance; Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive, Dangote Industries; Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings; Foluso Phillips, Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); Saratu Umar, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC); and Yemi Kale, Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Fuelled by the ongoing state infrastructure investment drive, non-oil private sector growth was estimated at 9.4% in 2013. The Kingdom posted a budget surplus of $54.9bn in 2013, or 7.4% of GDP, driven largely by oil exports, which averaged 7.54m bpd over the course of 2013. Efforts are under way to boost the employment of nationals and make the most of Saudi Arabia’s young population, and healthy trade ties with countries around the world continue to benefit the economy. Improving access to finance for SMEs
 remains a priority. This chapter contains a viewpoint from Ibrahim Al Assaf, Minister of Finance, and interviews with Adel Fakeih, Minister of Labour, and Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry.

With Pinsent Masons, this chapter contains an outline of the legal framework in which local and foreign investors operate in Qatar. It includes an examination of the rules related to company ownership, an overview of the employment procedures governed by the Labour Law, and a look at the new actions being taken to boost cyber security. The chapter also includes a viewpoint from James Elwen, Partner and Head of Qatar Office, Pinsent Masons.

In conjunction with PwC, this chapter contains an overview of the tax framework in which local and foreign investors operate in Qatar, including a look at the Customs duty exemptions for some firms and an outline of the incentives available to those businesses that are diversifying the economy. This chapter also includes a viewpoint from Stephen Anderson, Managing Partner, PwC Qatar.