East African Business Week (Kampala)
22 November 2008
Nairobi, Kenya — The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will work with East African governments, central banks, capital markets regulators, exchanges and other key policymakers to further develop and integrate the region's bond markets so that companies have better access to long-term local currency funds.
"Securities markets are vital for economic development because they mobilize private funds and channel them to sectors of the economy that most need financing," Jean Philippe Prosper, IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said last week at a stakeholder workshop in Nairobi.
He added; "Vibrant and efficient securities markets help large projects and businesses gain access to finance and create opportunities for more Africans."
The remarks were made at a two-day workshop that focused on the findings of three recent reports commissioned by IFC. The reports make several recommendations on how to develop East Africa's bond markets, including increasing the volume of bond issues, creating an over-the-counter market for secondary trading of government and corporate bonds, developing appropriate market infrastructure for clearing and settlement, giving securities regulators oversight of these markets, and eventually integrating the bond markets of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
The workshop was part of a joint initiative between IFC, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the World Bank through the Efficient Securities Markets Institutional Development Initiative. The initiative aims to simplify rules and procedures to issue and trade bonds, establish better market structures, strengthen secondary markets, build capacity of market participants, and facilitate regional capital market integration.
About 100 delegates from the East African Community attended the workshop, including participants from the central banks, capital markets regulators, exchanges, infrastructure organizations and other market players.
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