Celestine Rwabukumba, CEO Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) explains performance in trade volumes
Rwanda’s stock exchange has improved its performance in trade volumes and investments despite facing shocks in the previous year.
By the end of October 2017, total volumes on the secondary markets traded Rwf318.1million going up- 37% across the board while investment appetite had a growth tune of 8% according to Celestine Rwabukumba, CEO Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE).
According to statistics, the Rwanda stock market dropped by 69.6% in the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 and volume of listed securities traded equaled to Rwf1, 890,621,300.
“This has been as a result of recovery on the equity markets and investor’s participation mainly retailers and activity in corporate debt where we have seen interest in commercial papers and successful issuance of treasury bonds (T-Bonds),” Rwabukumba told CNBC Africa.
Rwanda recently sold a 7-year Treasury bond worth $11.8 million to fund infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, Bank of Kigali unveiled plans to raise between $80 million and $100 million next year by issuing new shares to existing shareholders.
This year, one more local company (I&M Bank Rwanda) listed an initial public offering (IPO) with 60% of the 99 million shares reserved for Rwandans and East African citizens, while foreign investors can buy the balance of 40%.
However, a setback on bourse was experienced by Crystal telecom (CTL) when the venturing business- MTN Rwanda was in May this year fined $ US$ 8.5 million (equivalent Rwf7, 030,000,000) for breaching regulatory agreements which is above 80% of Rwf8.9 billion that the telecom made in its annual net income in 2015.
In the meantime, the local bourse had no activity as both the stock and shares indexes remained untouched closing at 134.39 and 133.34 respectively despite a good performance the Bank of Kigali and CTL counters.
