The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said it expects the equities market to perform better at the end of 2020 even as it stands to benefit from various government initiatives targeted at improving the country’s business environment.
This was even as the Commission stated that it would continue in its efforts to complete the Capital Market Master Plan Review which started in 2019.
Speaking during the Commission’s annual Budget Seminar in Lagos, acting SEC Director General, Mary Uduk, noted that the last 12 months has been a challenging and difficult period for the Nigerian economy, the markets and, by extension, the SEC.
Uduk said that despite revenue challenges and competing demands, SEC successfully implemented key programs and projects, achieving significant milestones while adding that the Commission is poised to build on the gains of 2019 with a renewed focus on resource optimization and execution of prioritized initiatives this year.
Emphasising the important role that budgets play in an economy, and by extension in the capital market, Uduk explained that the importance of the seminar was to analyse the risks and opportunities presented by the government budget.
She then projected that with various government’s initiatives targeted at improving the country’s business environment, as well as efforts to lower interest rate and increase liquidity through increase in loan to deposit ratio (LDR), the equities segment might close 2020 on a positive note.
Her words: “Going forward into the year 2020, we expect the equities segment to benefit from various government initiatives targeted at improving the country’s business environment as well as efforts to lower interest rate and increase liquidity through increase in loan-to-deposit ratio. The debt segment of the capital market is equally expected to benefit from increased sovereign bond coming from the need to finance the high deficit of 2020 budget. Aided by the various commissions and initiatives to further deepen the market, our outlook on the Nigeria’s capital market for 2020 is therefore generally positive”.