Domestic bond market capitalisation hits N5.65b

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Saturday said that market capitalisation of the domestic bond market hit N5.65 billion in 2013.
The SEC Director-General, Arunma Oteh, said this at a workshop in Badagry, Lagos.
The workshop, with the theme: “Transformation of Nigerian Bond Market and Its Benefits,” was organised by the Capital Market Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria.
Oteh, who was represented by her Communication Adviser, Obi Adindu, spoke on the topic: “Recent Reforms in the Nigerian Bond Market.”
She said that the growth was as a result of increased interest by corporations and state governments in the bond market.
She said that state governments had issued bonds worth over N421 billion from 2010 to 2013.
“The amount of corporate bonds raised from 2010 to date is more than two and a half times all the bonds issued by corporations from 1960 to 2009,” she said.
The director-general said that the Nigerian debt market was meeting up with the stock market, with domestic debt stock of over N12 trillion.
Oteh said that the domestic debt stock comprised N4.2 trillion FGN Bonds, N2.5 trillion Nigerian Treasury Bills, N334 billion Treasury Bonds, N4.35 trillion AMCON Bonds and over N1.45 trillion State/Corporate Bonds.
She said that the commission would remain committed to a vibrant bond market for infrastructure development.
Oteh said that the commission had reviewed the transaction cost in the primary and secondary segments of the bond market to make bond issuance competitive and reflective of value for investors.
She added that SEC also led advocacy initiatives aimed at eliminating legal impediments to bond issuance and transactions and investment regulations.
According to her, SEC pushed for the elimination of tax discrimination on different categories of investors in FGN Bonds and Corporate/Sub national Bonds.