Mauritius, Ethiopia & Rwanda Ranked Africa's fastest growing wealth markets

According to the ‘AfrAsia Bank Africa 2017 Wealth Report’ published by New World Wealth in association with AfrAsia Bank, Mauritius, Ethiopia and Rwanda are the fastest growing wealth markets in Africa.

The report which details the performance of High Net Worth Individuals, HNWIs in selected African countries between the end of 2006 and the end of 2016, placed Mauritius at the top in the continent for HNWIs during this period, with growth of 230%. HNWIs refer to individuals with wealth of $1 million or more.

Ethiopia was ranked second with a growth of 219%, followed by Rwanda with 107%, Uganda 97% and Kenya closing the top with a growth of 93%.

“Mauritius is a lending hub for Offshore Financial Services and will receive this “Wealth Flow” for management and investment. We therefore expect Mauritius to be the biggest beneficiary of this developing trend.” commented Sanjiv Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer of AfrAsia Bank.

The strong growth in millionaires in Mauritius has been assisted by the country’s Strong economic, the relocation to the country by a large number of wealthy individuals over the past decade, especially from France and Southern Africa.

It is estimated that 280 millionaires have moved there from South Africa alone since 2006. Mauritius also scored highly due to its thriving and growing financial services sector, particularly in offshore banking, fund management and private banking, automatic permanent residency if one buys a $500,000+ home in the country which has encouraged wealthy people to move there, secure ownership rights which is the most critical component of successful wealth creation globally.

The table below ranks major African countries by number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs). As reflected, South Africa is home to the most HNWIs on the continent. Despite recent turmoil, Egypt ranks second on the list, followed by Nigeria & Kenya.