(Ecofin Agency) - Despite its economy slowing down, South Africa remains Africa’s most attractive nation for investors, according to the 2016 Ernst & Young Africa Attractiveness Index.

The report evaluates progress made in governance, diversification, infrastructures, business enablement, human development as well as resilience to current macroeconomic challenges.

Morocco is ranked second on the index, followed by Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Ghana Botswana, Tunisia and Rwanda. Cote d’Ivoire comes tenth.

Africa’s top economy, Nigeria comes 15th, mainly because of its poor performances in terms of governance and human development (See full ranking below).

South Africa, which is the continent’s most developed nation, owes its position to good performances in governance, diversification, infrastructures, business enablement and human development. Ernst & Young indicated that three north African nations (Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) and Ghana, in West Africa, despite being under economic pressure, have a relatively good business environment, good infrastructures and in the case of Ghana, a good governance record.

Botswana, Mauritius and Rwanda, though small markets have good performances in terms of business enablement, social development and economic management. Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire have a relatively strong economic growth outlook, and good performances in terms of infrastructures and business enablement.

The study also reveals that Africa was in fact, “one of only two regions in the world in which there was growth in the number of FDI projects over the past year in 2015”. The number of FDI projects across Africa was 771 in 2015 against 722 in 2014, thus up 7%. Over the world, number of FDI projects fell by 5% in 2015.

However, these projects generated less in 2015, $7.3 billion, than in 2014, $88.5 billion. Yet revenues generated by FDI projects in 2015 are higher than yearly average of $68 billion recorded from 2010 to 2014.

Despite these performances, EY estimates that midterm outlook for many African countries remain uncertain. These countries include Nigeria and Angola that are presently suffering from slump in prices of oil.

In opposition, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Cote d’Ivoire are among the 17 sub Saharan countries which should record a growth equal to or exceeding 5% in 2016. More generally, two thirds of sub Saharan African economies will have growth rates that are above global average this year.

“From an investment perspective, the next few years may be challenging, this is not because the opportunities are no longer there, but rather because these opportunities are likely to be more uneven than they have been. It is now more important than ever for organizations and investors, who sometimes place to great an emphasis on shorter term economic growth trends, to adopt a granular, fact-based approach to assessing investment and business opportunities for the long-term,” said Sugan Palanee, Africa Markets leader at EY.

Michael Lalor, EY’s Lead Partner Africa Business Center, for his part said that “given the scale, complexity and fragmented nature of the African continent, making well-informed choices about which markets to enter when and via which mode will be more critical than ever”.

Ernst & Young’s list of 20 most attractive countries for investors:

1-South Africa

2-Morocco

3-Egypt

4-Kenya

5-Mauritius

6-Ghana

7-Botswana

8-Tunisia

9-Rwanda

10- Cote d’Ivoire

11-Senegal

12-Tanzania

13-Uganda

14-Ethiopia

15-Nigeria

16-Algeria

17-Zambia

18-Namibia

19-Benin

20-Mozambique