Ethiopia Issues First Investment Licence

Ethiopia issued its first investment banking licenses to two local companies, the latest effort by the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to open up the economy of more than 100 million people to private capital.

State-run regulator Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECA) awarded the licenses to units of lenders CBE Capital and Wegagen Capital Investment Bank.

Since coming to power in 2018, Abiy has been trying to liberalise Ethiopia's hitherto tightly controlled economy.

Those efforts have drawn interest from foreign companies, including Kenya's Safaricom which won Ethiopia's first private telecoms licence in 2021.

As part of the liberalisation, Ethiopia has floated its local birr currency and also opened up other sectors such as financial services.