Nigeria’s ranking improved the most, rising seven places to 11th in the Rand Merchant Bank Africa’s investment destination and readiness.

The country’s position shot up on the back of the removal of fuel subsidies, liberalization of its foreign-exchange market and statistical reforms which RMB said “are resetting its economy on a more sustainable course.”

Seychelles, Mauritius and Egypt retain their positions at the top of the rankings of 31 nations for the third year running, RMB said.

It assesses the countries using 20 metrics grouped into four pillars that include economic performance and potential, market accessibility and innovation, the investment climate as well as social and human development.

The three nations “have built resilience to be able to navigate their vulnerabilities,” Angeline Moseki, an Africa macroeconomist at RMB, said in an interview. “They are not much endowed in resources, so they’ve had to intentionally expand into sectors that could give them that value-add outside of their natural endowments.”

South Africa “continues to benefit from deep financial markets, improving energy security, and reform momentum, but slower growth has seen it narrowly lose ground this year,” the report said.

Morocco’s rise to the fourth position underscores a shift in the continent’s industrial landscape as the North African nation expands manufacturing and attracts foreign capital.

Its economy grew 4.9% in 2025, compared with 1.1% in South Africa, whose much larger industrial base has been constrained by years of weak growth and infrastructure bottlenecks.

Senegal recorded the steepest decline, dropping five places to 19th as political turbulence, a fiscal-credibility crisis, sovereign-credit downgrades, and structural weaknesses have “taken a toll,” it said.