The Pan-Africa Exchange (PANEX), a multi-asset exchange company licensed as a securities and commodities exchange in Zambia, has started signing up clients to purchase government bonds from as low as K100 to trade.

PANEX Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Maaga, said in a statement yesterday that the move is aimed at facilitating increased financial inclusion among citizens that would culminate into financial growth, stability and contribute to economic growth of the country.

Maaga noted that the selling of government bonds to individual citizens and companies at such low prices would also enable government to have a wider access to borrow funds from its citizens for developmental projects.

“PANEX is pleased to announce its official launch of trading of Securities with Government Bonds listed at a par value of K100. Currently, most government bonds are trading at a discount, giving investors a higher return than the coupon rate. The Bond trading on PANEX platform changes the dynamics of investing in Zambia by attracting both individual and institutional participants in the market resulting in increased liquidity in the market as more people will participate in the secondary markets. PANEX facilitating increased financial inclusion among citizens will culminate into their financial growth and stability and contribute to economic growth of the country, while government will have a wider access to borrow funding from its citizens for developmental projects,” Maaga stated.

He stated that the coming of PANEX on Zambia’s capital market would also demystify the financial sector and allow a broad spectrum of citizens, including small scale farmers, traders and government workers to access financial services, which include government bonds.

“The coming of PANEX on Zambia’s capital market will demystify the financial sector and allow a broad spectrum of citizens including; small-scale farmers, traders and government workers access [to] financial services including government bonds, which currently attract Yield-to-Maturity (YTM) as high as 20 per cent depending on demand and supply of government paper,” stated Maaga.

“PANEX is also facilitating price discovery through futures contracts. Future contracts provide innovative solutions to improve fairness and transparency in trading between small-scale farmers, traders and agro-processors which will give farmers an opportunity to earn fair prices for their produce.”

PANEX is a Pan-African focused international exchange. It is a demutualized, fully electronic multi-asset exchange whose main mission is to create fair and transparent markets for the African continent.