Stock Exchange laced with strong force capable of retaining foreign investors’—FG
The federal government has revealed that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has all it needs to continue to retain both local and foreign portfolio investors even in the face of nearing general elections next year.
In his presentation during the NSE/London Stock Exchange (LSE) Dual Listing Conference in Lagos, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola noted that the NSE has the best investment security architecture and management structure that can guarantee investments at all times.
He said “For those investors that may feel somehow because of our coming elections, the NSE has what it takes to re-attract them and add value to their investments”.
Giving further insights on the imports of the conference which has ‘Attracting Global capital to drive Nigeria’s Economic Reforms and sustainable Growth,’ as theme, the minister noted that “It is quite topical for the Country at this time as the part of the federal government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is to raise ease of doing business and gross the participation of foreign investors”.
Earlier in his welcome address, the chief executive officer of NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, since 2017, “The Exchange has seen a significant rebound as listing activity (IPO and Follow on offers) increased 1,622.03% from N2.59 Billion in 2016 to N44.51 Billion in 2017,” disclosing that “Market recovery was largely driven by South Africa, with contribution from Egypt, Tunisia and renewed listing activity in Namibia”.
“The Global outlook for 2018 remains positive on the basis of resilience in the US, economic stability in Europe, and significant increases in market activity of emerging economies. Primary markets activities on the NSE in 2018 has not continued the pace of resurgence we saw in 2017, although the pipeline remains strong.
“The 2017 Primary markets activities were dominated mostly by supplementary offers, listings by introduction, debt issuances, mergers and divestments. The market recorded an uptick as Equity market capitalization grew by 42.12% in 2017 closing the year at N13.62tn compared to N9.54tn in 2016.
According to him, “With these feat, The NSE emerged the star of Sub-Saharan Africa markets and one of the top three best performing World Federation of Exchanges’ markets of 2017 globally”.
Onyema observed that “The Nigerian economy exited recession with a marginal growth of 0.83% in 2017 and is expected to grow by 2.5% in 2018 based on the World Bank’s projections. This optimistic outlook is also evident in the NSE’s trading activities with cumulative transactions from January to April increasing by 114.22% from N509.38 billion recorded in 2017 to N1.091 trillion in 2018. Evidently showing that Nigeria remains top of mind on the African continent for investors!
“Much of this was the result of improved macro-economic conditions driven by higher global oil prices and increased domestic oil output, as well as The Exchanges’ keen focus on strategy execution and enhanced advocacy efforts, positively impacting the business of The Exchange during the period.
“One of the Exchange’s advocacy efforts with the Federal Government in ensuring significant reforms to improve the business environment also aided the country’s move 24 places to 145th in the World Bank’s 2018 Ease of doing business report.
He averred that “The NSE also continues to increase its product offerings to the investing public with the listing of securities such as the $300m Diaspora Bonds and $3bn Eurobonds in 2017, the N100billion Federal Government Ijarah Sukuk and the Sovereign Green Bond; adding to the nation’s funding options to catalyse the rebound of our economy and offer investment alternatives to the vast majority of Nigerians. It is noteworthy to mention that Nigeria’s inaugural issue in the Green Finance market earned a credential as the first ever Sovereign issuance in Africa.
He explained that “This represents a new stage in development of Nigerian capital markets and opens the way for further corporate issuance and international investment. The NSE is playing a key role to help develop this enormous opportunity for Nigeria and fulfil one of our key objectives as a member of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative”.
