This book looks at contemporary issues facing financial markets in Southern Africa. It has been
established that African stock markets are confronted with a multitude of problems which
include inadequate liquidity low capitalisation few market participants a small number of
listed companies and low trading volumes. As a result their broader economic impact has so far
been limited. The Southern Africa Development Community ( SADC ) stock markets with the
exception of South Africa are small both in terms of the number of listed companies and market
capitalisation and they display considerable illiquidity. In general the SADC region has
shallow and underdeveloped financial markets. Their development has been hampered by a number
of factors which include political and economic uncertainty fiscal dominance weak judicial
institutions limited investment opportunities in the private sector technological constraints
and the shortage of skilled personnel with expertise in banking and finance.
