The African Development Bank (AfDB) has expanded the African Bond
Index as Botswana and Namibia join index family bringing transparency to
most liquid markets.
The AfDB, through the African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI),
launched its AfDB/AFMISM Bloomberg® African Bond Index (ABABI) in
February 2015. Calculated by Bloomberg Indices, the composite index is
currently comprised of the Bloomberg South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and
Kenya local currency sovereign indices and will be joined from October
2015 by Botswana and Namibia.
“As more African countries are increasingly looking to domestic
capital markets to source much needed financing for economic
development, we are delighted to welcome Botswana and Namibia to the
index and expect to include more countries to it as soon as reliable
pricing information is made available,” says Stefan Nalletamby, the
director of the Financial Sector Development Department of the AfDB.
The expanded index will now include the six most liquid sovereign
bond markets in Africa and three sub-indices for different maturity
ranges. To be included in the index, a security must have at least one
year remaining to maturity and withstand price stability tests.
The AFMI works to deepen the continent’s local currency bond markets
and also strives to create an environment where African countries can
access financing at variable terms. By providing transparent and
credible benchmark indices, the AFMISM Bloomberg® African Bond Index
provides investors with a tool with which to measure and track the
performance of Africa’s bond markets.
The composite index is available to Bloomberg Professional® service
subscribers via {BADB Index}. More on the AFMI can be found at
www.africanbondmarkets.org
by Hope Mose.
No comments:
Post a Comment