Ghana, Zambia join AfDB’s African bond index

24 Apr 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Ghana and Zambia will from April 2017 join six other sovereign indices currently on the AfDB/AFMISM Bloomberg African Bond Index.

Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank

The African Development Bank, through the African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI), has announced that two more countries have joined the AfDB/AFMISM Bloomberg African Bond Index (ABABI), according to a statement released on Monday.

The AfDB said the local currency sovereign bond indices of Ghana and Zambia will from April 2017 join six other sovereign indices currently on the ABABI. The six other indices are from Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, 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 Zambia and Ghana to the index and expect to include more countries to it as soon as reliable pricing information is made available,” said Stefan Nalletamby, Director of the AfDB’s Financial Sector Development Department.

The AfDB, through 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.

ABABI was launched in February 2015 as an initiative of the AfDB/AFMI. By providing transparent and credible benchmark indices, the ABABI provides investors with a tool with which to measure and track the performance of Africa’s bond markets. The index is computed by Bloomberg Indices and it is available to investors via the Bloomberg Terminal.

In line with the objectives of ABABI, the AfDB said it approved on December 7th, 2016 the creation of the first African multijurisdictional fixed income enhanced exchange traded fund (ETF) – which is named the African Domestic Bond Fund (ADBF). The ADBF, which is expected to be launched in September of this year, will track the performance of ABABI, the Abidjan-based lender said.


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