One of the world’s poorest nations is building its first stock exchange

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has signed a partnership agreement with the International Finance Corporation to support the creation of the Kinshasa Stock Exchange, moving the mineral-rich Central African nation closer to launching its first securities exchange and one of Africa’s newest bourses.

The development comes over a year after Ethiopia launched its own stock exchange in January 2025. With Ethiopia’s Securities Exchange (ESX) now hosting four listed companies, Africa has about 30 operational stock exchanges, with the ESX currently the continent’s youngest.

The DRC’s push into capital markets follows its debut on international debt markets earlier this year. In April, the country raised $1.25 billion through its first-ever Eurobond issuance, marking the first time it had borrowed in a foreign currency on global capital markets.

The transaction, the first debut Eurobond by an African sovereign since 2019, was structured in two tranches: a five-year note maturing in 2032 with a yield of 8.75 percent, and a 10-year note maturing in 2037 with a yield of 9.5 percent. The bonds are expected to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Doudou Fwamba Likunde Li-Botayi, the country’s finance minister, signed the cooperation agreement with Malick Fall’s IFC country director on Thursday at the Centre Financier de Kinshasa.

According to a statement, the partnership will focus on six key areas: developing the regulatory framework, building market infrastructure, strengthening technical capacity, facilitating knowledge transfer, expanding the investor base, and supporting the exchange during its initial operations.

The agreement comes as the DRC moves to establish the legal foundations for its financial markets.

On June 11, Fwamba appeared before the Senate to defend legislation that would create the country’s capital markets framework. The bill, approved by the Cabinet in April 2025 and passed by the National Assembly on June 5, provides for the establishment of a securities exchange, a commodities exchange covering agricultural, mining and industrial products, a financial markets regulator, a central securities depository and settlement banks.

If approved by the Senate, the legislation would create the legal infrastructure needed for the launch of the country’s first exchange, though it would not immediately operationalise the market.

During deliberations, senators raised concerns about the readiness of the economy for a formal securities market. Senator Willy Mosubu Bussa pointed to the large size of the informal sector and questioned whether local companies could meet the corporate governance, transparency and reporting standards required for listing.

Despite ranking among the world’s poorest nations, the DRC has increasingly attracted investors seeking exposure to one of Africa’s last major frontier markets.

Over the past few years, the country has become a magnet for some of the continent’s largest banking groups. Nigeria’s Access Holdings and FirstHoldCo, Togo’s Ecobank, Kenya’s Equity Group and KCB Group, and Tanzania’s CRDB Bank have all expanded their presence in the vast Central African economy.

At first glance, the interest appears counterintuitive. The DRC ranks among the world’s 10 poorest countries, with more than 70 percent of its estimated 109 million people living in poverty. It also remains one of Africa’s most underbanked markets, with fewer than 39 percent of adults holding a formal bank account, according to the World Bank.

For regional lenders and investors willing to take on frontier-market risk, however, those gaps represent significant growth opportunities in a country endowed with vast reserves of copper, cobalt and other critical minerals that are increasingly vital to the global energy transition.