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The Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde Stock Exchange) is the principal stock market of Cape Verde. It is located in Praia.

The Cape Verde Stock Exchange (BVC) was founded on May 11, 1998, under a governmental decision and started its activities in December 2005, trading 44 treasury bonds and three corporate equities. The corporate equities, or stocks, included two banks and a tobacco company.

The operating structure of the Cape Verde stock exchange combines the auctioning system with quote-driven systems in order to support larger market liquidity. The market deployed huge efforts to re-structure itself in line with the best practices and most relevant international guidelines. All platforms are credible ones and some are used by Euronext Lisbon and Interbolsa. The BVC is a member of the most relevant international institutions that discipline capital market concerns.

A new building was finished in around 2012 and is located just south of the Estádio da Várzea complex.

Its logo is gold colored with an octagonal coin and reading the letter b, the first letter of the Portuguese word for Exchange.

The Exchange’s stated mission is:

The Global Financial Crisis 

Cape Verde is one of the few banking sectors in Africa to experience a significant direct contagion from the global financial turmoil. On February 13th, the government of Cape Verde announced its decision to revoke the license of Banco Insular de Cabo Verde, an offshore subsidiary of the Portuguese Bank of Business (BPN). BPN was nationalized by the Portuguese government in late 2008, owing to large losses on off-balance sheet loans worth Euro700million. BPN apparently used Banco Insular as a virtual branch for its riskiest credit operations and between 2004 and 2007 siphoned off over €300m through the bank to Brazilian accounts, mainly for insider lending (EIU, 2009). It is as yet unclear the extent of the repercussions of this bank closure on the Cape Verdean economy, which last year grew at around 6 percent and saw an increase in foreign reserves and a fall in public debt. However, these are expected to be significant given:

The Cape Verde archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands, establishing the first European settlement in the tropics. Ideally located for the Atlantic slave trade, the islands grew prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, attracting merchants, privateers, and pirates. The end of slavery in the 19th century led to economic decline and emigration, although Cape Verde gradually recovered as an important commercial center and stopover for shipping routes. Incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal in 1951, the islands continued to agitate for independence, which was peacefully achieved in 1975.

Since the early 1990s, Cape Verde has been a stable representative democracy, and remains one of the most developed and democratic countries in Africa. Lacking natural resources, its developing economy is mostly service-oriented, with a growing focus on tourism and foreign investment. Its population of around 512,000 is mostly of mixed European and sub-Saharan African heritage (mulato), and predominantly Roman Catholic, reflecting the legacy of Portuguese rule. A sizeable diaspora community exists across the world, slightly outnumbering inhabitants on the islands.

Historically, the name "Cape Verde" has been used in English for the archipelago and, since independence in 1975, for the country. In 2013, the Cape Verdean government determined that the Portuguese designation "Cabo Verde" would henceforth be used for official purposes, such as at the United Nations, even in English contexts. Cape Verde is a member of the African Union.

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The escudo (sign: $; ISO 4217: CVE) is the currency of the Republic of Cape Verde.

Amounts are generally written by using the cifrão as the decimal separator, such as 20 $ 00 for 20 escudos, or 1.000 $ 00 for 1000.

The escudo became the currency of Cape Verde in 1914. It replaced the Cape Verdean real at a rate of 1000 réis = 1 escudo. Until 1930, Cape Verde used Portuguese coins, although banknotes were issued by the Banco Nacional Ultramarino specifically for Cape Verde beginning in 1865.

Until independence in 1975, the Cape Verde escudo was equal to the Portuguese escudo. Subsequently it depreciated, declining by about 30 per cent in 1977-8 and by a further 40 per cent in 1982–84. Thereafter, it remained fairly stable against the Portuguese escudo.

In mid-1998 an agreement with Portugal established a pegged rate of 1 Portuguese escudo = 0.55 Cape Verdean escudo. Since the replacement of the Portuguese escudo with the euro, the Cape Verdean escudo has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 1 euro = 110$265. This peg is supported by a credit facility from the Portuguese government.