The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) is the principal

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for t ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

. The exchange was incorporated in July 1989 with trading commencing in 1990. It currently lists 42 equities (from 37 companies) and 2

corporate bond A corporate bond is a bond issued by a corporation in order to raise financing for a variety of reasons such as to ongoing operations, M&A, or to expand business. The term is usually applied to longer-term debt instruments, with maturity of ...

s. All types of securities can be listed. Criteria for listing include capital adequacy, profitability, spread of shares, years of existence and management efficiency. The GSE is located within the Cedi House in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

History and operations

Since its inception, the GSE's listings have been included in the main index, the

GSE All-Share Index The principal stock index of the Ghana Stock Exchange or GSE is the GSE Composite Index. It was introduced in 2011 with a base value of 1000 points. This index is calculated from the values of each of the market's listings. Market listings P ...

. In 1993, the GSE was the sixth best index performing emerging stock market, with a capital appreciation of 116%. In 1994 it was the best index performing stock market among all

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or wer ...

, gaining 124.3% in its index level. 1995's index growth was 6.3%, partly because of high inflation and interest rates. Growth of the index for 1997 was 42%, and at the end of 1998 it was 868.35 (see the 1998 Review for more information). As of October 2006 the

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

of the Ghana Stock Exchange was about 111,500 billion cedis ($11.5 billion). As of December 31, 2007, the GSE's market capitalization was 131,633.22 billion cedis. In 2007, the index appreciated by 31.84% (see the "Publications" section on the GSE's website for more information). The

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer ...

sectors currently dominate the exchange. A distant third is the

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

sector while other listed companies fall into the

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

sectors. Most of the listed companies on the GSE are Ghanaian but there are some multinationals. Although non-resident investors can deal in securities listed on the exchange without obtaining prior exchange control permission, there are some restrictions on portfolio investors not resident in Ghana. The current limits on all types of non-resident investor holdings (be they institutional or individual) are as follows: a single investor (i.e. one who is not a Ghanaian and who lives outside the country) is allowed to hold up to 10% of every equity. Secondly, for every equity, foreign investors may hold up to a cumulative total of 74% (in special circumstances, this limit may be waived). The limits also exclude trade in

Ashanti Goldfields The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. Dur ...

shares. These restrictions were abolished by the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723). There is an 8%

withholding tax Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, Pay-as-You-Go, Pay-as-You-Earn, Tax deduction at source or a ''Prélèvement à la source'', is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the incom ...

on dividend income for all investors.

Capital gains Capital gain is an economic concept defined as the profit earned on the sale of an asset which has increased in value over the holding period. An asset may include tangible property, a car, a business, or intangible property such as shares. ...

on securities listed on the exchange will remain exempt from tax until 2015. The exemption of capital gains applies to all investors on the exchange. There are no exchange control regulations on the remittance of original investment capital, capital gains,

dividends A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...

, interest payments, returns and other related earnings. Potential changes at the exchange include the introduction of automated trading and the listing of some state banks. The Bank of Ghana plans the development of mutual funds, unit trusts and municipal bonds at a subsequent date. These changes are aimed at making the exchange more relevant, efficient and effective. The exchange was also involved in preparing the draft law on collective investment vehicles.

Hours

The exchange has pre-market sessions from 9:30am to 10:00am and a continuous auction session from 10:00am to 3:00pm GMT on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the exchange in advance.

Licensed brokers

The

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and W ...

s of licensed dealing members, or "LDMs", of the Ghana Stock Exchange typically include detailed information about the exchange, daily rates, company research and further links. Licensed brokers of the GSE include:
Stanbic Bank Ghana

IC Securities

Databank Group

Gold Coast Securities

NTHC

Securities Discount Brokers

FirstBanC Brokerage Services Ltd

Merban Stockbrokers Ltd

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1989 Stock exchanges in Ghana Economy of Ghana Companies based in Accra Organizations established in 1989 Ghanaian companies established in 1989

History and operations

Hours

Licensed brokers

See also

References