The German, Swiss and Austrian companies in Nigeria are lamenting the high cost of doing business in Nigeria. The groups said they would not be consolidating their operations if adequate measures were not put in place to enhance ease of doing business in the country.

They made this known in Lagos on Thursday at this year’s edition of the Austrian-German-Swiss Business Outlook organised by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

They equally listed absence of critical infrastructure, insecurity, compliance to standards, corruption, access to forex, policy instability, among others, as some of the major factors affecting their operations in the country.

The Deputy Consul-General, Federal Republic of Germany in Lagos, Ms Alexandra Herr, in her opening remarks, noted that the business partnership and relation between Nigeria and Germany had existed for over 160 years, especially in the areas of agriculture, food processing and manufacturing which, according to her, had led to the existence of over 90 German companies in Nigeria.

Herr pointed out that, although, Nigeria remained the economy with the highest potential in the sub-Sahara Africa, non-presence of critical infrastructure and non-viable policy framework had formed part of the major factors affecting the country’s ranking on the 2019 ease of doing business analysis.

This, she said, had continued to hamper Nigeria’s economic fortunes as well as decreasing its Foreign Direct Investments and foreign representation in the country.

The Consul-General of Switzerland in Lagos, Mr Yves Nicolet, on his part, said the Nigerian economy was showing serious signs of recovery as the Swiss companies operating in Nigeria had increased from 45 to 54 within the year.

The Commercial Attaché, Austrian Embassy, Mr. Hannes Scheiner, noted that Nigeria remained Austria’s second largest trading partner in the sub-Sahara Africa, saying that Austria’s export to Nigeria was around 80million euro per year.