‘Make use of Victoria Falls Stock Exchange to raise capital’
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has encouraged businesses in need of long-term capital funding to list on the foreign currency denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).
The minister’s sentiments come on the back of increased demand for capital financing by key productive sectors whose leaders have complained that annual national budget allocations for industry are not adequate enough for their expectations.
In the absence of external lines of credit due to sanctions imposed on the country by the West and high lending rates by local banks, capital markets are expected to play a key role in boosting business operations.
VFEX, which was set up in October last year, thus, seeks to provide a global platform for the trading of stocks in hard currency and is expected to go a long way in promoting foreign investments into Zimbabwe and the entire Sadc region.
The new exchange is one of the many initiatives being implemented by the Second Republic to stabilise the economy and attract foreign direct investment.
So far four giant companies have officially listed on the bourse and these include;
Padenga Holdings, Caledonia Corporation, SeedCo International Limited, and Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC).
Prof Ncube, who presided over the official listing of BNC on VFEX on Friday, revealed that Parliament has endorsed the offshore financial status of the new exchange, further confirming the country’s commitment in making Victoria Falls an internationally recognised offshore financial hub.
“The VFEX now sits in the offshore financial centre, which was eventually approved by Parliament two days ago,” said the minister.
“I encourage more companies to make use of VFEX in raising capital as long as they are hard exporters.
“We have also put quite a few incentives for both investors as well as the companies themselves in terms of the retention for investors in terms of the capital gains tax, which has been lowered and also stockbrokers will experience lower transactions charges here,” said Prof Ncube.
An offshore financial services centre is a platform that attracts high level non-resident financial activity from foreign investors who are non-residents to a particular country. — The Chronicle
