RINGING IN REFORM

Jul 13 , 2025.

A historic chapter in the domestic financial sector evolution was scripted last week as senior federal government officials convened to formally inaugurate the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX). Governor Mamo Mehiretu and Finance Minister Ahmed Shide, flanked by state minister for Finance Eyob Tekalegn (PhD) and market watchdog Hana Tehelku, filed into the Sheraton Addis's Lalibela Hall to launch the Exchange. Under the gaze of bankers, diplomats and curious onlookers, ESX Chief, Tilahun Kassahun (PhD), invited executives from Gadaa Bank and Wegagen Bank to strike an inaugural bell, ushering in dematerialised trading of government treasury bills (T-bills), an instrument officials tout as a "positive-yield" alternative to aid and taxes. The shift from paper certificates to screen-based trades, they insisted, will tighten public-liquidity management while luring household savings and institutional cash into state coffers.

For the officials, the symbolism was as potent as the spreadsheets. Ahmed heralded the exchange as proof that Ethiopia can finance its own ambitions, while Mamo called the formal market "a strategic necessity" after years of relying on donors and soft loans. Hana, director general of the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA), who spent time shepherding rules through Parliament, said listing T-bills should "instil confidence in corporate issuers" and clear a path for corporate bonds and equities. The sceptics have plenty to watch, ranging from settlement glitches to investor appetite, but for one afternoon at least, as the ceremonial mallet fell and electronic order books flickered to life, the long-promised market liberalisation felt within reach.

PUBLISHED ON Jul 13,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1315]