Kenya Dominates Africa Financial Markets In The Latest Absa Report

Last week, Absa Group Ltd in association with Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) released the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2019 report that focused on 20 African countries.

Among the 20 countries, South Africa and Kenya maintained their positions from the previous index report at positions 1 and 3, respectively.

The other countries in the top 5 list include; Mauritius, Namibia, and Botswana. Overall, Kenya had a score of 65.0 out of 100, a similar score recorded in 2018.

On Legality and Enforceability of Standard Financial Markets Master Agreements, Kenya was ranked 2nd with a score of 96.0, an improvement from the 3rd rank with a score of 83.0 in 2018.

On Access to Foreign Exchange, Kenya was ranked 5th with a score of 65.0, a drop from the 1st rank with a score of 93.0 in 2018.

On Market Depth, Kenya was ranked 5th with a score of 55.0, an improvement from the 8th rank with a score of 44.0 in 2018.

On Market Transparency, Tax And Regulatory Environment, Kenya was ranked 11th with a score of 71.0, a descent from the 8th rank with a score of 70.0 in 2018.

On Capacity of Local Investors, Kenya was ranked 8th with a score of 39.0, a drop from the 7th rank with a score of 33.0 in 2018.

There was a significant improvement in Market Depth in 3 countries, namely Kenya, Namibia, and Botswana, achieving scores of over 50.0. This shows an improvement in other bourses in Africa with South Africa being the benchmark as an outlier with a score of 100.

Market Transparency, Tax, and Regulatory Environment pillar saw the best collective performances with 13 out of 20 countries scoring above 67.0.

While most pillars saw an improvement, Access to Foreign Exchange is the only pillar where collective scores dropped.

Similarly, the interbank foreign exchange risk had a large disparity where South Africa’s turnover is at 466.0 percent of GDP, whereas when isolated from the rest the average turnover for the remaining 19 countries is 13.0% of GDP.

All countries showed an improvement in their index averages compared to the first index report that was released in 2017, showing that they are all aligning their local resources in accordance with global standards.