Following the coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission mandated the creation of market-wide circuit-breakers to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 19, 1987 market crash, in which the Dow plunged 22.6%. Since then, they have only been triggered once in 1997 before the four times this March. Malawi’s Stock Market is likely to plunge amidst the outbreak.

Stockbrokers Malawi Limited Chief Executive Officer, Noel Kadzakumanja, said the Covid-19 does pose a threat to the local bourse’s performance. Unfortunately, the Malawi Stock Exchange has already started of the year on a tough situation, registering a decline in traded volumes at 34 million this month, compared to 212 million during the same period last year representing an 83.9% drop.

MSE Chief Operations Officer, Kelline Kanyangala, attributed the trend to seasonal factors. “For the first few months of the year the market performance is slow, basically if you look at trends of households in Malawi you find that for most people need financing for farming, rents, school fees and such other obligations.” she said.