The World Bank and International Finance Corporation have ranked Nigeria among the top 20 emerging markets in the world.
Nigeria is ranked alongside South Africa, Morocco and Egypt from the Africa continent.
The Deputy Director/Special Assistant to the Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Mohammed Usman, disclosed this at an interactive session with capital market correspondents in Lagos on Thursday.
He noted that although the country�s capital market deserved the inclusion, it was a honour to be among the list of the two giant institutions. He said, �Being among the top 20 in an emerging market is not a small achievement because it includes the big countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China.�
Explaining the development, Usman said the parameters developed by the institutions to determine which countries made the list, would serve as a veritable guide for international institutional investors when deciding on the flow of funds.
�This can only be good for Nigeria as a lot more people are now looking towards the Nigerian capital market for investments from outside. It is a credit to our market, which is already a good selling point,� he said.
He further maintained that the index was needed for several statistics.
�In the last year, the outperforming stocks on the Nex-Rubica Africa Top 40 Index have been Nigerian financials. One key attraction is that the risk/return profile in the Nigerian market is generally uncorrelated to western markets. Starting from a relative low base, Nigeria has the momentum in terms of its population, resources and growth potential to catapult it to the first rank of emerging market economies,� Usman added.
He, however, observed that the capacity of the market regulators and operators in the Nigerian capital market appears to have been sadly overstretched without a contigent safety net put in place. Usman said while attention was being received from the responsible officers, the market must recognise that the ultimate goal of the index being developed was how to protect the investors still beset with numerous challenges.