The Bourse des Valeurs Mobilières de Tunis (BVMT) or Bourse de Tunis (Arabic: بورصة تونس) is a stock exchange based in Tunis, Tunisia. It was founded in 1969, and currently lists around 50 stocks.
The exchange is under the control of the state-run Financial Market Council. The government has provided tax breaks to increase the number of listings, but companies have been slow in going public.
The creation of the award was in February 1969. Although this creation is relatively old, the role of the stock market in financing Tunisia's economy has remained limited or insignificant due to the dominance of the state and banks . This results in significant levels of money creation and inflation.
This period is characterized by ease of access to bank loans and state aid, a very advantageous remuneration of deposits with banks that are regulated, protected and exempt income and a fairly heavy taxation of stock market investments.
The award will be increasingly seen as a registrar of transactions as a mirror of the economy having its place in the corporate finance. Moreover, the market capitalization represents just 1% of GDP at the end of 1986.
As part of the structural adjustment plan, a financial market reform started in 1988 with the aim of establishing a legal framework allowing the market to contribute to the financing of the economy. Deposits with banks are taxed, the rates of interest on deposits are falling as a result of lower inflation and savings in securities enjoys favorable taxation with the abolition of taxation on most -values and dividends. The tax on corporate profits also down 80% to 35%.
To meet international standards, reform is adopted with the promulgation of the Law of 14 November 1994 on the reorganization of financial market. This law creates the new public regulator: the Financial Market Council, which began operations on 15 November 1995. Following this major reform of the Tunis Stock Exchange that establishes the foundations of a financial market, potentially able to finance part of the economy, the situation continues to evolve fifty companies listed in March 2009, for a market capitalization of up to 8.7 billion dinars (against 3.1 billion in 2004) or 16% of national GDP.
