The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, has said Nigeria is proposing a series of regional capital market reforms to ease cross-border investment across West Africa, deepen access to long-term financing and mobilise funds for infrastructure development.
Speaking at the S&P Global Ratings Africa Summit in Lagos on Tuesday, Oyedele said fragmented capital markets across the region were limiting the ability of West African countries to attract the scale of investment required to finance infrastructure and support economic growth.
According to a report by Reuters, the minister argued that no single market in the region was sufficiently deep to independently attract the volume of long-term capital needed to finance large-scale infrastructure and economic development.
Reuters reported that Oyedele proposed a regional passport regime that would allow issuers approved in one participating market to raise capital across other markets without having to seek separate regulatory approvals.
It states: “Oyedele told an S&P Global Ratings Africa Summit in Lagos that fragmented capital markets across West Africa are limiting access to long-term financing, with no single market deep enough to attract the scale of investment needed for infrastructure and economic growth.
“He proposed a regional passport regime that would allow issuers approved in one participating market to raise capital across others without seeking separate regulatory approvals.
“Nigeria is also advocating a unified investor identification system, enabling investors registered in one market to buy bonds and equities across the region without repeating onboarding requirements.”
On market infrastructure, Oyedele called for the integration of regional trading, settlement and payment systems to enable securities transactions to be settled directly in local currencies, thereby reducing reliance on the United States dollar.
The proposed framework would cover 10 countries, comprising Nigeria and Ghana, alongside eight Francophone countries that share the CFA franc and a common central bank. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Reuters further reported that the minister identified existing initiatives, including the West African Capital Markets Integration Council, the African Exchanges Linkage Project and the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), as foundations for achieving greater regional market integration.
“The task now is to join these pieces together,” Oyedele said.
Additional proposals include establishing a regional local-currency bond index and a credit enhancement facility to support cross-border infrastructure financing.
“Additional proposals include creating a regional local-currency bond index and a credit enhancement facility to support cross-border infrastructure financing.”
Nume Ekeghe with Agency reports
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