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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Ahead of the event, David Wandera FCCA, the Absa Executive Director & Head of Financial Markets discusses the financial markets landscape in 2023 and why it is important for financial markets actors, policymakers and other stakeholders to attend and or follow the release of the #AFMIIndex2024. From your perspective as a key financial markets actor in Uganda, how did Uganda’s financial markets perform in 2023?The Ugandan financial markets performed well – especially when compared to global and regional financial markets. Specifically, the currency remained fairly stable – depreciating less than 2% compared to several other African currencies that depreciated more than 5%. This was despite a high global interest rate environment that typically would result in a flight to safety – which would mean more dollars leave Uganda during the calendar year. In 2023, Uganda was a net recipient of dollars – which contributed to the relative stability of the shilling. Additionally, the recent Primary dealership system continues to thrive in aiding the growth of secondary market volumes over the past 3 years of its existence. We have seen exponential growth in volumes traded on the secondary market which is up over 300% since the inception of the primary dealer system. The latest Absa Africa Financial Markets Index reports that the Uganda local currency government bonds were added to the FTSE Frontier Emerging Markets government bond index which gives good visibility of our local bonds in the offshore space. Which major policy changes were made around the Ugandan financial markets in 2023 and how did these drive the performance of the sector?The gazetting of the Appraised Book Value regulation was a big milestone. It will spur financial institutions to enter into specified financial contracts for risk and liquidity management and further increase the stability, safety and international visibility…