As the budget day draws near, The New Times will for the remaining days publish views and expectations of ordinary Rwandans, experts and academicians on the budget that will be presented to Parliament by the finance minister on June 12. Today, the Capital Markets Authority explains why it needs more funds in the coming budget

The public does not fully understand how the stock market works or how they could benefit if they invested on the bourse. To address this situation, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking more funding in the next financial year to sensitise the public about the stock exchange activies and also to complete its reforms, Robert Mathu, the CMA executive director, told Business Times in an interview on Friday. 

"We have already exhausted the public education budget. We held numerous radio talkshows, organised the Capital Markets University Challenge and carried out countrywide roadshows to popularise the treasury bond issued by the government in February,” he said.

He added that they also hired international experts to draft the commodities exchange law, and published between eight to 10 new regulations this financial year, including the Rwanda National Investment Trust. Corporate governance guidelines for intermediaries and guidelines for small-and-medium enterprises public listings were some of the other regulations that were published during this fiscal year.

Mathu also said more financial support will be needed to operationalise the laws and put in place structures for the investment of the Agaciro Development Fund.

"Before a Bill is discussed in Parliament, it first has to be approved by the Ministry of Finance. This calls for more financial assistance to carry out feasibility studies and cover administrative costs,” he explained.

The local bourse has struggled to attract people, especially local investors, a situation sector players blame on low awareness among the population. They say if enough funds are allocated to CMA and Rwanda Stock Exchange to carry out sensitiaation programmes, this would solve the problem and attract more local investors to the stock market.