Africa > North Africa > Stock Market / Finance

Stock Market / Finance in North Africa

  • Algeria looks to boost capital markets liquidity

    ALGERIA, 2016/06/11 With traditional lending constrained by lower hydrocarbons receipts, public authorities are redoubling their efforts to develop Algeria’s capital markets. By encouraging listings on the country’s equity and deficit markets, officials are looking to relieve pressure on the national Treasury and create new investment opportunities for financial institutions. “The Treasury and the national no longer possess the budgetary means to finance development projects at the same level as in recent years, which has resulted in a redistribution of funding channels and underscoring the need to develop financial markets,” Abdelhakim Berrah, president of the Commission for the Organisation and Oversight of the Stock Market (Commission de Surveillance des Opérations de Bourse, COSOB), told OBG.
  • Morocco and China sign $1.54bn currency swap agreement

    CHINA, 2016/05/16 In a statement published on May 11, 2016, the Central Bank of China announced it has signed with its Moroccan counterpart a currency swap agreement valued at $1.54 billion. The agreement which was signed on the initial day of Moroccan kin Mohammed VI in China should extend over three years and facilitate bilateral trade between the two nations.
  • AfDB and Algeria Redefine the Foundations for Strengthened Partnership

    ALGIERS, 2016/04/28 Next his initial visit to Algeria since taking office in September 2015, the President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, expressed his pleasure at the warmth of the welcome the Algerian authorities gave him and at the constructive dialogue throughout the two days of his visit to Algiers on April 19 and 20, 2016. During this visit's rich programme of meetings - with Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, the Minister of Finance, and several members of the Government inclunding with representatives of the Algerian private sector - Adesina and the Algerian authorities established together the foundations of a strengthened partnership to promote inclusive increase in Algeria.
  • Morocco Has Africa’s Second Highest Rates of Tax Revenue as Percentage of GDP

    MOROCCO, 2016/04/03 A statement published on Friday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Improvment(OECD) said Morocco had the second highest rate of tax revenues as a % of the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 out of the eight African nations studied. To complete the study, a collaborative effort between the African Union, OECD, and other continental organizations, used OECD data to produce internationally comparable statistics on tax and nontax governmental revenues for the participating nations over a time span of 18 years. The authors of the statement said the data would provide a way for officials to determine if African nations were getting closer to conference their development goals.
  • Egypt's Benchmark Index Declined By 1.2%

    EGYPT, 2016/02/09 The Egyptian stock market's benchmark index EGX 30 retreated by 1.2 % on Sunday reaching 6,126 points, down from 6,202. Meanwhile, the secondary indices inched up, with EGX 70 for small and medium enterprises rising by 0.8 % and the broader EGX 100 index by 0.1 %.
  • Morocco’s Public Debt Represents 64% of GDP

    MOROCCO, 2016/01/05 Morocco’s public deficit reaches up to 64 % of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, Mohammed Boussaid, this deficit is “below the red line set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a deficit ratio of 70 % of GDP for emerging nations.” “To continue the downward trend of deficit, the government has introduced new provisions in the new organic law, providing for a additional rigorous legal framework of deficit, through the introduction of the golden policy, which provides for limiting deficit to finance capital expenditures and the settlement of the deficit principal”, Boussaid said at the question time of the Home of Representatives on Tuesday.
  • Morocco’s Net International Reserves Amounted to MAD 222.3 Billion as of December 2015

    CASABLANCA, 2016/01/05 Morocco’s net international reserves amounted to MAD 222.3 billion until December 25, 2015, recording a 23.2 pc increase on an annual basis, Bank Al-Maghrib announced. The central bank explained in its weekly indicators that the reserves recorded a 0.2 % weekly decrease. During the period December 24-30, 2015, the central bank injected MAD 21.4 billion.
  • Egyptian pound steady at official auction and black market

    EGYPT, 2016/01/02 Egypt's central bank kept the pound steady at 7.7301 pounds to the dollar at its official foreign currency auction on Thursday, and currency held its weaker rate on the black market as well. Egypt, which depends on imported food and energy, is facing a dollar shortage and mounting pressure to devalue the pound. The central bank surprised markets at the same time as it strengthened the pound on November 11 by 20 piasters against the dollar.
  • International finance institutions have largely neglected to offer assistance to sub-Saharan nations

    MOROCCO, 2015/12/03 International finance institutions have largely neglected to offer assistance to sub-Saharan nations on the markets but several are making their own way in an untapped emerging area. On a continent where access to markets is a novel phenomenon and where it is still difficult to attract investors due to legacy issues of poor macroeconomic management and fiscal discipline, inclunding persistent corruption and weak institutions, attempts to raise capital from the markets is a laudable goal. The discipline required by the process has no doubt helped nations that have been successful in recognizing the importance of market perceptions and the need for better macro-fiscal discipline. The number of international bond issuances by sub-Saharan African nations in recent years has accelerated. In addition to South Africa, eight nations in the region have tapped the international capital markets, inclunding initial-time issuers Ghana, Gabon, Senegal, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Rwanda. Furthermore, market intelligence suggests that other sub-Saharan African nations may tap international markets in the near next. Cape Verde national company Imobiliária, which provides housing for disadvantaged people, carried out an $8.8 billion bond issue in October, its second foray into the securities exchange, while Kenya has seen two Eurobond issuances in the completed 12 months.
  • Traders of African Development Bank (ADB) at the Stock Exchange

    EUROPEAN UNION, 2015/11/21 The Maghreb Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade (Bcmice) will be operational by the end of December in Tunis, Rabat Kouider Lahoila, expert of the direction of economic affairs at the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), has announced. He stressed that UMA taking a concrete step in the financial sector signified evolution for it. This is good news for Maghreb states, businessmen and entrepreneurs who will thus gain access to a new funding source for their activities. The new bank, with a capital of 500 million dollars, will have as a fundamental mission to finance projects promoting common infrastructures for the five UMA member states - Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania - develop commercial exchanges within the Maghreb area, considering the strong potential of a market of 90 million consumers.