While the JSE has courted other African stock exchanges to forge a closer working relationship, CEO Russell Loubser effectively ruled out any tie-up
with Zimbabwe unless Mugabe’s 28-year rule is ended at elections this month.
“The Zimbabwe stock exchange would like to work much closer with us yesterday, ” Loubser said at a press conference for the announcement of the JSE’s annual results.
“We are just extremely apprehensive while you’ve got that type of government in power because anything is possible … We are very careful about doing something there while that type of moronic government is in place.”
Loubser’s comments come after Mugabe last week passed a new law that will ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans will own at least 51% of companies operating in the troubled southern African nation.
Analysts have warned that the new legislation will scare off foreign investment in a country that has been in economic meltdown for the last eight years and has an inflation rate of more than 100,000% – the highest in the world.
Loubser said the JSE, the largest stock exchange on the African continent, which has itself been listed since June 2006, had enjoyed an increase in revenue of close to 40% despite what he called a “volatile” year.
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