The end of October closes the worst month for stock markets in history.
Ghana isn't complaining, however. The Ghana Stock Exchange has so far this year posted the best performance in the world. The GSE's All-Share Index has chalked up 64% growth. Compare that with the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which is down 30.7% for the first 10 months of 2008.
Before you rush out and convert your savings to Ghana Cedi (the local currency) and hop on the next plane to Accra (the capital) so you can bet on shares of the Super Paper Products Company Ltd or Cocoa-Processing Co, you should know that liquidity is not the strongest selling point of Ghana's US$15-billion equity market. The market has traded just 949,000 shares this year. Some days come and go without any shares trading hands at the exchange.
"It's hard to call it a stock market because of the liquidity levels," said Don Elefson, an emerging-markets specialist at Harding Loevner Management in Somerville, New Jersey. "Ghana's a little market that gets forgotten."
Still, liquidity problems aside, Ghana is certainly an alternative for anyone whose made a bad bet on Iceland or Ukraine.
