Investing in Cabo Verde

On the capital market in Cabo Verde, investors trade shares, corporate, municipal and sustainable bonds, government bonds or Treasury securities, as well as investment funds and venture-capital funds. Commercial paper is regulated by Decree-Law No. 35/2024 (Decreto-Lei n.º 35/2024). Derivatives are mentioned in law, but reliable evidence of local availability for retail investors has not been established. For exchange-traded securities, the Cabo Verde Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde), or BVC, is the regulated market. The capital-markets regulator (AGMVM), under the central bank of Cabo Verde (Banco de Cabo Verde), supervises the capital market. Licensed stock-market operators (Operadores de Bolsa), including BCA, CECV, BCN, BAI, BI and iiB, accept and forward orders. You need an account with a licensed operator, an investor form or an order through the direct-exchange service (Bolsa Direto) or electronic trading platform (Blu-X), as well as a registry or custody account. An order is executed only when a matching buy or sell order is available. According to BVC information, transferring securities to third parties requires approval from the regulator. Direct investments follow a different route. They can use capital, tangible assets or intangible assets to establish, modernise or expand a company or project. The investment-promotion agency (Cabo Verde TradeInvest), abbreviated CVTI, and the one-stop investor service (Balcão Único do Investidor), or BUI, support such projects, coordinate permits and licences where applicable, and may help with partners or funding opportunities. The CVTI FAQ gives a minimum size of 50,000,000 ECV for investment projects and mentions a review period of up to 75 days. Because these figures partly come from older website content, you should confirm the threshold and procedure directly with CVTI or BUI before applying. The rules for a project cannot be transferred to a stock-market purchase. The local capital market is fragmented. In 2023, three sustainable bonds were issued, two of them public, while no new share issuance was recorded; at the same time, there were four listed companies. Bonds and Treasury securities therefore generally have greater practical importance than shares. An order can remain open despite correct documentation if the market does not offer a counterparty. Costs include intermediary commissions, BVC, AGMVM, settlement, custody and registry fees, where applicable value-added tax (IVA), taxes, foreign-exchange margins and spreads. Request the complete fee schedule in writing before placing an order. Residents of Cabo Verde may acquire foreign securities through authorised foreign exchanges or brokers. Foreign-exchange and, where applicable, reporting obligations apply; foreign-currency, broker and regulatory risks also arise. The Cabo Verdean escudo is pegged to the euro at 1 EUR = 110.265 CVE, but other currencies may still fluctuate. ETFs, robo-advisory offerings and cryptoassets do not have a reliably demonstrated local direct equivalent and are therefore not assumed to be standardised local routes. Investment objectives may include interest income, dividends, capital appreciation, capital preservation or a planned transfer of assets. Diversification across issuers, maturities, islands, sectors and currencies may limit concentration risks. Nevertheless, default, interest-rate, price, liquidity, foreign-exchange, political and regulatory risks remain. Direct projects also involve permitting, infrastructure, location and natural-event risks. Before committing capital, therefore, examine the issuer or project sponsor, the prospectus or available project documents, the fees, the tax treatment and the provider's authorisation.