Local bourse marks 30 years existence with prospects of fully joining World Federation of Exchanges
The Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) last week celebrated a three-decade milestone of being a platform in which brokers and traders buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds, and other financial instruments.
Chief Executive Officer of the NSX, Tiaan Bazuin said the bourse will soon launch an electronic bond trading system, a condition for the current application process to become a full member of the World Federation of Exchanges. There are currently only 10 other African stock exchanges that are full members.
Bazuin also said there are current processes underway for a license application to launch a Central Security Depository (CSD) in light of the recently gazetted CSD Standards.
The Chairman of the NSX, David Nuyoma, highlighted amongst others, the successful listing of MTC as the largest capital raising on the NSX to date and the first by a state-owned company. He also noted the NSX’s move into carbon footprinting by issuing a NamCode Directive and Namibia becoming one of the first African countries where the International Finance Corporation registered a Bond Programme and issued notes on the NSX.
Nuyoma further said since its inception in 1992, the NSX’s continued participation in the all-important debates and consultations led to the drafting of various policies impacting the financial sector landscape in Namibia.
The NSX contributed to expanding the markets in the region by its participation in the Committee of SADC Stock Exchanges and the African Securities Exchange Association, as well as internationally through its affiliate membership with the World Federation of Stock Exchanges and partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.
Economic strategist and advisor, Dr Frans Cronje, said according to World Bank data, Namibia’s per capita GDP in US dollars has risen to just over $5 000 today.
“That US$5 000 is equivalent to roughly 40% of the global average. In 1980 however, Namibia’s figure was roughly on par with the then-global average. The subsequent shrinkage relates in the main to the extraordinary growth rates recorded by China, India, and the Asian Tiger economies over the intervening 40 years that propelled billions of people out of poverty and into relative prosperity,” Cronje said.
