JSE dwarfs Nigerian Stock Exchange 29 times, nears $1trn market cap

Moses Obajemu

Despite the size of the Nigerian economy and over a decade’s long target by at least two successive leaderships to raise market capitalisation to the $1trillion mark, the Nigerian Stock Exchange is not in the bracket of the top four stock exchanges in Africa.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the largest, with a total market capitalisation of $988, 338,750,248, is 29 times bigger than the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

With a market capitalisation of $34,509,132,315, the Nigerian Stock Exchange is a distant fifth position, trailing the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange, the Casablanca Stock Exchange, and the Egyptian Stock Exchange in that order.

More curious is the fact that the Namibian Stock Exchange comes second and has a market capitalisation of $130,296,514,807. Namibia has a population of less than 10 million people. The Namibian bourse is four times bigger than the NSE.

Data from the African Stock Exchange showed that the Casablanca Stock Exchange in Morocco has a market capitalisation of $52,084,378,318; the Egyptian Stock Exchange ($36,078,945,194); NSE ($34,509,132,315); and the Botswana Stock Exchange ($33,074,974,539).

Others are the Nairobi Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of $18,902,672,283, followed by the Ghana Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of $10,294,461,397. The Bours de Tunis has a market capitalisation of $8,249,978,765.

The South African economy is touted as the most industrialised on the African continent, boasting of several thriving manufacturing, trading, and service industries. Besides, most venture capitalists and foreign institutional investors see the South African economy as developed with a stable political structure than the rest of the continent where policy consistency is rare.

However, the South African economy in recent times has faced much crisis and is projected to contract by about eight percent in 2020 due to slow reforms, power crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic

The government started a phased re-opening of the economy on May 1 and restrictions were eased further to so-called level 2 recently. However, business closures and job losses due to the lockdown that shuttered much of the economy, as well as blackouts imposed by state-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. from July, threaten output. The state still lacks a clear plan to revive the economy and reforms such as the sale of spectrum and easing visa regulations have stalled