Investors looking to place their money outside of the U.S. should look no further than sub-Saharan Africa, Atlas Merchant Capital CEO Bob Diamond said Thursday.
"There are a lot of reasons to be positive in the medium-to-long term for sub-Saharan Africa," the former Barclays CEO said in a CNBC "Power Lunch" interview.
Some of the reasons Diamond cited include growth in consumer discretionary income, a growing number in democratic regimes and the fact that Nigeria had a peaceful transition of power during its March elections. "There is strong underlying economic growth that is much more than just the natural resources sector."
However, "there are a number of economies in Africa that are going to be affected by the commodities cycle," he said.
The global commodities complex has taken a hit recently, with spot U.S. crude prices falling over 25 percent in the last three months.
Diamond also expressed concerns over the tumble in the European economy, and called for fiscal policy reform from lawmakers.
"Monetary policy, and what Mr. Draghi has done in the last three or four years, has had a positive impact but fiscal policy has not," Diamond added. "Labor reform, capital markets reform, banking reform: They are serious things that need to be done in those areas, and there has been nothing done."
"Today, 80 to 85 percent of corporate loans are still on the balance sheet of banks in Europe; in the U.S. it's 10 to 17 percent, so when then there's a big dip in oil prices, U.S. banks don't stop lending."