For an extended period reaching well into the post-independence era of indigenous political self-determination, most African countries lacked their own stock exchange. In 1992, there were only 12 bourses across the continent, the oldest being SA’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), founded in 1887. By 2015, the number had risen to 20. A number of factors explain the dearth of stock exchanges. For centuries, African territories were subject to colonial authorities, for whom growing capital markets was not a priority. More recently, African governments assuming power during the decolonisation project preferred central planning, a socialist agenda hostile to the proliferation of capitalist structures and institutions. Furthermore, the commitment to privatisation has been weak, constrained by strong left-wing lobbying, rent-seeking and low political will, and the stock market rationale has been undermined by pessimism. Some conservative economic theorists believed it was counterproducti...
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