The Governing Council of the Sierra Leone Stock Exchange held a meeting on January 28 in Freetown to revive the Sierra Leone Stock Market. The council suggested that long term bonds and company shares should be traded on the Stock Exchange as investors have lost interest in trading only on Rokel Commercial Bank shares.
The National Commission for Privatization (NCP), the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) attended the meeting in Freetown.
The Sierra Leone Stock Exchange was established on the 17th August 2009. Since its establishment it has been facing challenges relating to non-tradable securities and management issues. The Stock Market has only traded Rokel Commercial Bank Shares.
The current share price is Le.5 per share.  Government has increased its shareholding in Rokel to 65 percent because it pumped in money when the bank encountered a loss in 2013. The public has only 35 percent to trade in.
The 2-year bonds are traded by the Bank of Sierra Leone instead of allowing the Stock Market to trade these long term securities. The NCP responsible for divesting public enterprises has not traded any of those enterprises it is privatising on the Stock Market. NCP has not fulfilled its promise of trading some company shares on the stock.
Because of the Le.99 billion loss that Rokel registered in 2013, share prices plummeted almost to zero and many investors tried to disinvest after 2014 when the loss dropped from Le.99 billion to Le.22 billion. That huge loss is affecting people’s confidence to invest in Rokel shares.
Monday February 01, 2016