DMO dissatisfied with retail investor participation in debt market

The Debt Management Office (DMO), has expressed dissatisfaction with individual investors’ patronage of bonds, saying a lot needed to be done to attract more investors into the net.According to the DMO, the federal government (FGN) savings bond established in May 2017, has so far recorded a total of N13.44 billioninvestment.An analysis showed that 431 corporates invested N1.75 billion while 15,822 individuals invested N11.75 billion, bringing the total amount to N13.5 billion.

Monday Usiade, the head, market development, DMO, while addressing participants during the NSE, DMO, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers 2019 ‘Retail Bond’ workshop expressed dissatisfaction and also disclosed that said 77 percent of the investors were from the Southwest while eight percent were from the Federal Capital Territory, and South-South, respectively

Usiade, who was represented by Bose Olafisoye, said four percent came from the South-East and foreign investors, respectively, while the remaining three percent were from North-East and North Central, adding that Jigawa and Yobe states recorded zero subscriptions, while Lagos, FCT, Oyo and Ogun contributed 75.54 percent of the total investment.

A breakdown showed that so far in 2019, N1.02 billion and N1.72 billion were recorded in the first and second quarters (Q1, Q2), respectively.

Last year, the bonds achieved N583 million in Q1, N740 million in Q2, N1.21 billion in Q3, and N1.02 billion in Q4.

At the inception of the offers in 2017, about N2.07 billion, N2.69billion, N1.55 billion, and N891million worth of investments were recorded in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively.

This comes as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), also disclosed that only about three percent of Nigerian adult population currently participates in the capital market.

According to the Exchange, this is an indication that there is a need for increased collaborative efforts in promoting higher levels of financial inclusion in Nigeria.

Oscar Onyema, NSE’s chief executive officer, while addressing participants during the workshop, in Lagos, yesterday, reiterated the Exchange’s commitment towards pursuing initiatives that will increase domestic participation in local bourse.