Main speaker, the Togolese Félix Edoh Kossi Amenounve, managing director of the BRVM (Regional Stock Exchange) and president of the ASEA (African Securities Exchanges Association).

“In the context of the health crisis, global stock exchanges are being put to the test in terms of their ability to digest the information that is disseminated and to reflect the true value of listed securities”, underlined Mr. Amenounve during his speech.

Over the first five months of 2020, almost all the stock markets in the world fell, with an accentuation during the month of March, which experienced a strong spread of the pandemic.

'It appears that the stock exchanges of the Continent are impacted as their economies depend on the sectors most affected by this health crisis, in particular tourism, distribution, the agricultural sector, and the extractive industry as well as minerals than oil," said the head of the Abidjan Stock Exchange.

In general, all the markets are down over the period from January to May 2020, with the exception of the NASDAQ in connection with the spectacular rise in technology stocks, the importance of which was more than proven during the period of confinement.

The BRVM was however less volatile than most foreign stock exchanges in this pandemic context, recalled Félix Edoh Kossi Amenounve.

“Our market thus demonstrates, like other African stock exchanges, its resilience and its ability to support States and the private sector in the face of their post-COVID-19 financing needs,” he said.

The real challenge is to put finance and its various tools at the service of human well-being, with a view to ensuring humanity a better life and a strong capacity for resilience to various shocks.