Sudan’s stock market goes online in bid to boost governance

31 Mar 16

The government of Sudan yesterday launched an online trading system for the country’s stock market, the Khartoum Stock Exchange, which it is hoped will strengthen the country’s financial governance and accountability.

Trading at the KSE, which is dominated by government securities and plays a key role in development finance, was conducted manually until 2011, when it switched to electronic trading. The upgraded e-trading system will allow for an expanded marketplace and enable remote and online trading.

The African Development Bank, which funded the project, said the e-trading system will be instrumental in promoting the rapid development of the KSE, improving transparency and financial management, and reducing the risks associated with physical transactions.

It will also improve domestic revenue mobilisation, in particular of Sukuk or Islamic, bonds, which Sudan depends heavily on for financing infrastructure and services, as well as lowering transaction costs and saving time, the bank added.

In addition, it is hoped the e-trading system will serve as a platform for establishing electronic public financial systems, which will form the basis for a transition to electronic governance and administration of public resources.

Other complementary platforms being developed by the AfDB include an integrated financial management and information system, which will integrate Sudan’s public financial management systems with other government systems through a customised IT infrastructure.

This will enhance electronic transactions, information flow and integration across ministries, the bank said.

According to a 2013 AfDB report on the project, this will help improve PFM in Sudan, previously “characterised by inadequate internal control and accounting systems, limited transparency in government processes, the ineffectiveness of procurement and audit and less than optimal governmental financial control systems”.

Abdalla Inbrahim, Sudan’s under secretary of planning in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, added that the project has laid the foundations for the KSE to align itself with global financial and electronic trading systems. 

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