With about N5trillion deficit in the 2021 nation’s budget to be financed by foreign loans, economic experts have called on the federal government to explore the booming capital market to fund the budget.
“States governments can also take advantage of the Capital Market to mobilize funds for development projects. This will have multiplier effects on transactions on the Exchange.” He stated: “The market has performed well despite the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the second wave of COVID -19 in developed countries like the UK and US is likely to have an impact on capital importation especially foreign portfolio investments.
She said, “We know that there is a second wave but we also know that there is a vaccine on its way to us and psychologically that will be an encouragement to investors. Furthermore, the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement across Africa will see opportunities for some of our larger companies to make a foray into the African markets.
“We do not have to be too optimistic but optimistic with a focus as there would be challenges but I believe that we will see some form of improvement,” he added. Nigeria’s equities benchmark index recorded its highest return, rising 45.7% this year, according to the report. The report said it’s the most among 93 equity indexes tracked by Bloomberg, and makes the NSE the best performing stock market year-to-date.