West Africa Bourse Stellar Returns, Eyes New Listings

Turnover on West Africa’s BRVM bourse rose about 48 percent last year, boosted by regional economic growth, the manager of the stock exchange told reporters on Thursday.

“The economic growth of our region is the factor that explains the performance of BRVM,” said Edoh Kossi Amenounve. “There is also monetary stability.”

Amenounve said regional investors accounted for about 75 percent of the turnover, which amounted to 337.9 billion CFA francs ($576.9 million), while international investors were responsible for 25 percent.

The bourse is targeting a turnover of 400 billion CFA francs for 2016 and three new listings, including Bank of Africa-Mali and NSIA-Banque, which would put the number of companies at 42, Amenounve said.

Average daily turnover at the exchange amounted to $2 million, according to the manager.

In addition, investors had received 87 billion CFA francs in dividends and 96 billion CFA francs in bond interest.

Amenounve said the all-shares index composite rose by 17.77 percent in the year, the best performer in Africa.