Resource persons at the event
Barclays Bank Ghana has released the second edition of the Absa Africa Financial Markets index, which revealed that Ghana is one of the best frontier markets in Africa.
Ghana moved an impressive eight places up from last year’s rating to rank 4th in Market Depth.
A more transparent and well-regulated market together with increased focus on bringing companies into the formal sector has been instrumental in this regard.
The country also made significant progress in Market Transparency, Tax & Regulatory Environment to rank 6th on this pillar.
However, there is the need to empower our local investors and boost their capacity as Ghana scored low in this area.
Overall, Ghana ranked 7th among 20 African countries.
The five highest ranked financial markets in the 2018 index are: South Africa, which remains in the top position; Botswana, which rose to second place from third last year; Kenya, which climbed two spots on improved access to foreign exchange; Mauritius, which moved down to the fourth place from second last year and Nigeria, owing to improvements in administrative efficiency and tax incentives that have boosted the country’s regulatory environment.
Nigeria is a new entrant to the top five as a result of Namibia falling to sixth place from fourth this year.
Now in its second year, the index tracks financial market development in 20 countries across six indicators.
It provides benchmarks against which countries can measure their progress while developing their financial market frameworks to enhance investor access and sustainable growth.
Commenting on the index, Maria Ramos, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Absa Group, said: “The development of well regulated, deep and liquid financial markets is a key priority that should be at the top of Africa’s development agenda. The index facilitates a meaningful debate about the maturity and accessibility of Africa’s financial markets. It’s an important contribution that supports policy-makers, investors, regulators and other market participants to identify the areas and initiatives which will drive the most significant improvements.
“As a bank, we are aware of the critical role that financial markets must play to cushion our economies by channelling the wealth of savers to those who can put it to long-term productive use,” said Mrs. Abena Osei-Poku, Managing Director of Barclays Ghana.
She added that “the significant investments we have made in partnership with the OMFIF and our commitments going forward are premised on our firm belief that we will remain a force for good in Ghana and on the entire African continent.”
The 20 economies surveyed are: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The index provides a toolkit for countries wishing to build financial infrastructure by tracking progress annually across six pillars: market depth; access to foreign exchange; tax and regulatory environment and market transparency; capacity of local investors; macroeconomic opportunity and enforceability of financial contracts, collateral positions and insolvency frameworks.
A Business Desk Report