Mauritius - Stock Exchange Mauritius (SEM) Project

This operation concerns a Middle Income Country Technical Assistance Fund (MIC TAF) Grant of UA 430,000 (USD 600,000) to the Stock Exchange of Mauritius Ltd (SEM). Established in July 1989, SEM is a demutualised Exchange and is constituted as a public company. SEM has acted over the years as an important value-creation platform for listed companies. The project is aligned with the applicable Bank strategies, policies and HI5s priorities. The proposed MICTAF grant to support the connectivity between SEM and JSE will tackle persistent capital markets issues facing the development of African Capital Markets stopping it from funding the rising need for adequate funding to SMEs and corporates, and eventually sustainable job creation capacity through agribusiness, services, infrastructure development, and manufacturing. It will address various challenges met, not only by SEM such as (i) limited liquidity levels and insufficient active trading; (ii) lack of registered securities and innovative products to be traded on the exchanges; and (iii) lack of investors. The support to SEM is a continuation of the Bank’s endeavors in promoting inter-connectivity between African Capital Markets. Specifically, the proposed intervention will complement the Bank’s ongoing support to the Committee of the SADC Stock Exchanges (CoSSE) to connect stock exchanges and in building relationship platforms. The project is structured into four components as described below: (i) Capacity Building and Training; (ii) Licensing cost of the new TS software; (iii) Procurement of Hardware and other Equipment; and (iv) Audit. When implemented, it will help in promoting access to long term local currency funding, and improve access to finance for the SMEs, real sector, and investors in Mauritius and Africa as a whole through local capital markets.