Africa Stock Exchanges See Record Growth as Retail Access Expands

BREAKING NEWSJuly 5, 2026 at 2:33 PM UTC

TLDR

African stock exchanges surpass $2 trillion in combined market value, showing significant growth since 2024.
Nigeria's NGX All-Share Index surged by 283% from 2020 to 2024, reaching a market cap of NGN 157 trillion.
The Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières experienced impressive gains, with equities market capitalization doubling and bond market growing fivefold by June 2026.

African stock exchanges have crossed $2 trillion in combined market value, up from $1.6 trillion in 2024, according to the African Securities Exchanges Association. The gain comes after a decade of steady expansion across the continent's capital markets, from Lagos to Abidjan to Cairo.

Nigeria leads the pack. The NGX All-Share Index rose 283% since 2020, moving from 26,842 points at the end of 2019 to 102,926 points by December 2024. As of June 2026, the index sits near 9x its 2016 level. Market capitalization on the exchange stands at NGN 157 trillion, near $115 billion.

The Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, the shared exchange for eight West African countries, posted its own gains. Equities market capitalization moved from XOF 7.7 trillion ($13.5 billion) in 2016 to XOF 17 trillion ($29.8 billion) by June 2026. The bond market grew faster, from XOF 2.5 trillion ($4.4 billion) to XOF 12 trillion ($21 billion). Combined capitalization now tops XOF 29 trillion ($51 billion).

2025 stood out. The BRVM Composite Index gained 26% by June 2026. The Principal Index rose 57.59% for the year, and the Agricultural Index climbed 73.35%. Bond issuers raised 1,639 billion CFA francs ($2.9 billion) through 29 new listings in 2024.

Risks remain. Political instability in the Sahel, thin liquidity on smaller exchanges, and currency swings outside the CFA zone can weigh on returns. Even so, the BRVM trades at 12.17 times earnings, a level investors consider cheap for an emerging market.

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Key Takeaways

African exchanges are also linking up. In early July 2026, the African Exchanges Linkage Project entered a new phase, expanding from 7 to 11 connected markets with the addition of Botswana, Ghana, Eswatini, and Uganda. The project, run by the African Securities Exchanges Association and the African Development Bank, lets brokers in one country route orders to markets in another, without investors opening accounts abroad. The goal is a fully integrated African capital market by 2030 that keeps more local savings invested at home instead of flowing to London, New York, or Dubai. Backers point to demographics as the driving force: roughly 60% of Africa's population is under 25, a pool of future investors that exchanges are counting on as trading infrastructure matures and access widens.

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