As at July 10, 2019, the market capitalization of companies listed on Africa's 14 major stock exchanges was $1120.78 billion, Ecofin Agency found from data collected on these financial markets.

South Africa remains atop the list, with a market capitalization of 899 billion shares. This represents 4 times the combined capitalizations of other markets. Morocco ranks second with a market cap of $60.7 billion, followed by Egypt ($44.6 billion) and Nigeria ($39.5 billion). These last two countries lost a lot in stock market valuation in US dollars, due to the external shocks they suffered between 2016 and 2017, which led to adjustments (devaluation) in their currencies and a drop in investments, especially foreign investments.

Also, African stock markets have lost their attractiveness and are not very liquid. For example, the 14 most relevant stock markets in Africa are 4 times smaller than the Top 5 most valued listed companies in the world, which at the same date were worth about $4,355 billion. An analysis of returns over the past 5 years showed that, adjusted to the value of the US dollar, all of Africa’s 14 major stock markets except Malawi and Namibia, showed potential losses in value of investments.

Idriss Linge