The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has unveiled plans to woo Nigerian pension funds and other global investors to the market to boost investment in the country’s real sector.
Managing Director of GSE, Abena Amoah, said the exchange is currently targeting Nigeria’s over N19.5 trillion pension asset, noting that the bourse has made significant progress in this regard.
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) recently published its monthly report on Nigeria’s pension fund assets, showing that assets under management (AUM) of the regulated pension industry increased by six percent m/m to N19.5 trillion as of January 2024.
This growth marked the strongest month-on-month growth rate of pension assets in recent months.
On a year-on-year basis, the industry’s overall AUM increased significantly by +28 percent.
Amoah said: “Pension fund money is 30-year money and patient capital, and that is the kind of money we need to invest in the real sector of the economy. We are working with them, introducing them, showing them different asset classes and natural resources, facilitating roadshows.
“We do not look only at Ghana; we are also looking at Nigeria, other African pension funds, and global investors. We have made significant progress on that. Two years ago, pension funds on the equities side were less than two percent, but today, it is almost 10 percent.”
She said the exchange is beginning to witness good signs of recovery and investor confidence because the Ghanaian government recently completed an MOU with international bilateral creditors, even as the IMF plans to release the next tranche of funds to the government.
She said Ghana’s local pension fund is currently looking for diversification with AUM to the tune of GHC50 billion, most of which they have under government securities. She added that the exchange is currently viable for raising capital to fund businesses in the country.
