Angola Stock Market to Open in 2011

The government of Angola has announced its plans to fast-track the planned opening of its Stock Exchange. The Angolan Stock Market and Bolsa de Valores e Derivativos de Angola (BVDA) will open in 2011, the Finance minister, Carlos Alberto Lopes, announced on July 28 in Luanda.

Angola is one of the few countries in the Southern African region that still does not have its own stock market, despite the fact that the country is turning into one of the main economies of the region. The bourse is expected to boost investments in the country.

Financial analysts predict that the Angolan exchange has the potential to become the third largest in sub-Saharan Africa after the South African and Nigerian stock exchanges. Efforts to obtain a sovereign credit rating in order to access international debt markets are well under way, and should reinforce long-term stability and result in a deepening of the market.

The broad view considers Angola's estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of US84.9 billion and the capitalisation of African stock exchanges relative to GDP (an average of 42 percent). This calculation suggestes that the BVDA could have a market capitalisation of US36 billion, nearly three times the size of Kenya's well-established stock market.

A US36 billion Angolan stock market would still be dwarfed by South Africa's JSE, with its 331 listing companies and total market cap of US801 billion.  But it would not be too far behind the Nigerian market, with 195 listings and a capitalisation of US39.67 billion, as predicted by the Angolan Exchange Chief Executive Lopes Pinto.