"The main indicators of the stock market experienced significant growth during the year 2023, even in an economic context that still inspires a lot of caution and companies are still depressed after having been battered by successive years of crises and internal and external shocks", began by explaining the president of the BVM, Salim Valá, in statements to Lusa.

He adds that entrepreneurs and investors today have the notion "that the BVM is not only an alternative for financing, but also an investment mechanism".

"According to data from the Central de Valores Mobiliários, there has been a significant evolution of investors using products and services from the capital market and the Stock Exchange, with a growth of 292%, going from 6,495 investors in 2016 to 25,470 investors in 2023, indicating that many investors already understand the advantages of the capital market and the Stock Exchange", says Valá, recognizing the "growing trend of Mozambican savers applying their savings in securities listed on the BVM".

"It is within this economic context of the country that the BVM intends, during the year 2024, to consolidate the gains achieved in 2023 and open new and innovative lines of work", he also explains, detailing among the objectives the introduction of "innovations in products, services and financial instruments", and the increase in the technological base and the regulatory framework.

Likewise, the Mozambican stock exchange plans to start this year the operationalization of the Business Plan and the Strategic Plan, both to be implemented until 2028", to "expand operational performance and economic results, and improve the company's management and governance mechanisms".

Also "promote inter-institutional partnerships, further open the BVM to the world and attract more foreign investors", also advancing with "an intervention strategy that allows large companies to be listed on the stock exchange, and more SMEs can finance themselves via the capital market and stock exchange".

The Mozambican stock market had 84 listed securities at the end of 2023, 43 of which were Treasury Bonds, 16 Corporate Bonds, nine Commercial Paper and 16 companies, representing a growth of 29.23%, compared to the securities listed in 2022.

The growing trend of the indicators is reflected in the stock market capitalization, which went from 164,287 million meticais (2,369 million euros) in 2022, to 183,825 million meticais (2,651 million euros) in 2023, a growth of 11.89%, highlights Valá.

The volume of business of the BVM was 22,190 million meticais (320 million euros) last year, a growth of 33.12% compared to the same period in 2022, "as a reflection of the high number of securities admitted to listing with high trading, both in quantity of securities and in amounts involved".

The number of securities listed on the BVM "grew with 26 more securities admitted to listing, representing an achievement of 260% of the target of 10 securities planned for the year, while the market liquidity was 12.07%", a growth of 1.96 percentage points compared to the same period in 2022, which was 10.11%.

In the same period, the Central de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) registered 34 securities, "representing an achievement of 170% in relation to the target of 20 securities initially planned for the year, and 707 new accounts were created in the CVM, bringing the number of cumulative existing accounts to 25,470".

"The admission of four new companies, all on the Third Stock Market, resulted in a global quantity of 20,475,000 new shares on the stock market, representing a weight of 0.371% in the market's stock market capitalization", concludes Salim Valá.

Read Also: Tokyo Stock Exchange closes up 0.66% (Portuguese version)