That represents just about 5% of all listed firms in emerging markets and a tiny fraction of global market breadth.
The report highlights that listed firms on African exchanges tend to be “notably small” and “illiquid”, with a median market value well below that of peer economies in Asia and Latin America.
Egypt leads in listings, South Africa dominates in value
Egypt currently has the largest number of listed companies in Africa, making it the continent’s most active exchange by sheer volume of firms. Nigeria and South Africa follow, while countries such as Morocco, Kenya, and Tunisia also host sizeable numbers of public companies.
However, when measured by market capitalisation and liquidity, South Africa stands far ahead of the rest of the continent.
In practical terms, this means Egypt has more listed firms, but most are relatively small, while South Africa hosts fewer but much larger, more globally integrated companies in sectors such as mining, banking, telecoms and retail.
By contrast, stock exchanges in Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia remain very small, each hosting between 12 and 29 listed companies, according to the report.
