BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. The total volume of global capital markets has increased significantly over the past decade, currently exceeding $300 trillion, the Executive Director of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Tarlan Rasulov said at the Financial Investment Forum held in Baku today, Trend reports.
He mentioned that over the past 14 years, this figure grew by nearly 65 percent.
"If we look at the segments of the market, the global stock market, which makes up about one-third of this market, currently has a volume of around $105–110 trillion. The growth dynamics here correspond to the overall increase in capital markets.
Another interesting indicator is the ratio of capital markets to the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). For example, 10 years ago, the volume of capital markets was 2.3 times greater than the global GDP, whereas now this figure has reached approximately 2.9 times. This fact further proves the growing role of capital markets in the global economy.
Summarizing these processes occurring in capital markets, it is especially important to emphasize that financing through equity capital increases corporate resilience. We observed this both during the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic period. During that time, companies worldwide were able to raise an additional 2.1 trillion dollars in equity capital, which was a crucial factor facilitating access to alternative sources of finance during the crisis.
The use of corporate bonds as a means of raising capital is another development. For instance, in 2024, the yearly issuance of corporate bonds reached $2.4 trillion, up from an average of $1.3 trillion in 2014. Especially during the pandemic in 2020, the issuance of corporate bonds peaked. The main reasons for this growth include global-scale stimulus measures and the lowering of interest rates as fundamental factors," the official added.
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