Report by Jessie Ayamoh - EACN Magazine Correspondent/Coordinator Cameroun
The CEMAC Community Regulatory Instrument (COSUMAF) settles for simultaneous operations of the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX) and the Stock market of the Sub region (BVMAC) to promote economic development.
The development of stock markets of the Economic Community of Central African States, (CEMAC) has always been retarded, mainly because of the lack of integration and dynamism of their financial markets. 10 years after both stock markets( BVMAC and DSX) went operational the six Central African States are yet to benefit from the financial operations, because of the duplication of expenses, poor allocation of resources, different operation procedures, competition, difficulties of accessing accounting and financial information and complex access to markets which greatly contributed in scaring investors.
On the basis of statistics published by the CEMAC Community Regulatory Instrument, the present capital of the regional financial market stands at only 131.9Billion FCA, 10 years later. (The capital of Cameroon’s Douala stock Exchange is 25.5billion and the sub-regional Stock market in Gabon is 157.4billion FCA). In a 2day meeting organized by COSUMAF, the CEMAC Community Regulatory Instrument, under the theme, “The development of the financial market in Central Africa”, the college of financial regulators of the sub region traced a new perspective to harmonize the operations of the BVMAC and Douala stock Exchange. Alexandre Gandou, the president of COSUMAF, explains that the bringing together of both stock markets will re-establish trust.
He says, “It is not all about promoting one of the stock markets and suppressing the other. COSUMAF will makes sure that both of them are efficient and it should be a place where Cameroonian companies, the Congolese, Gabonese businessmen increase funds to finance growth, in order to give sense to our integration.”The college of regulators resolved to consolidate both stock markets by harmonizing operation procedures.
In spite of all the lofty recommendations during the seating, some financial and economic experts remain very skeptical about the progress of financial markets because of the absence of political will. According to some participants at the conference, quotations in both markets will only increase if the governments of Cameroon and Gabon settle their decade old political differences that arose during the creation of the stock markets.
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On September 1st 2009 boxing legend Muhammed Ali visited his ancestral home in Ireland. See the story and the pics here. Muhammed Ali though he got his European blood due to slavery (see video), but it turned out he got it from his Irish great-grandfather Abe Grady, who settled in the United States in the 1860s and married a freed African-American slave.
By Chris Ezeh - EAC-Magazine Publisher & MD EuroAfricaCentral Network 
formation of the Ghana American Stock Exchange (GASE), believed to be the first public stock exchange organized exclusively to foster the sale of stock in African and American businesses. 
