Nairobi — The Nairobi Securities Exchange(NSE) has sent its heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of Mwai Kibaki, who served as Kenya’s third president from December 2002 to April 2013.
The NSE Board Chair Kiprono Kittony noted that Kibaki’s contributions as Minister of Finance, Vice President and thereafter President, saw the steady growth of Kenya’s economy, fueled by a commodities boom, industrial growth, improved infrastructure as well as fiscal and monetary policies that were the backbone of his economic philosophy.
During his tenure as President, the NSE market capitalization grew by a remarkable 504 per cent.
"With substantial support from his Government, the Exchange witnessed several milestones including; the automation of clearing and settlement of shares traded in Kenya’s capital markets, the implementation of live trading of equities on its own automated system, increase of the Exchange’s trading hours to the current six hours," Kittony said in a statement.
Others include the automation of Government bonds trading, the launch of the FTSE NSE Kenya 15 and FTSE NSE Kenya 25 Indices, the launch of the FTSE NSE Kenyan Shilling Government Bond Index and the establishment of the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS), which gave small and medium enterprises a great opportunity to access the capital markets.
Additionally, the capital markets experienced major growth on the listing side such as, East Africa’s biggest initial public offer by Safaricom and also KenGen and Kenya Re among other blue-chip corporates, underscoring his privatization policy.
"The Kenyan capital markets will forever be appreciative of his commitment to economic reforms and especially the development of the retail segment, in addition to his rallying call on Kenyans especially the emerging middle class to invest in the bourse" Kittony said.
