Women tend to have better loan repayment rates than men. There is an implication that women are subject to a stricter loan application evaluation. Loan officers could be gender-biased, there may not be sufficient data for women, or data sources may not fully account for gender differences, creating barriers to loan approval. In such cases, […]
July 29- August 3, 2024 The government of Ethiopia announced that a market-based exchange rate will be implemented on July 28, 2024. On July 29, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia announced its inaugural market-based exchange rate, setting the rate for 1 USD at 74.7 for buying and 76.23 for selling. The Ethiopian foreign exchange market […]
The Association of Ethiopian Capital Goods Finance Companies has officially been established, receiving support from the five-year Bridges program funded by Mastercard. The initiative’s primary focus is to address pertinent challenges within the sector. Ethiopia’s capital goods financing sector is considered to be in its early stages, with only six companies currently registered with the […]
In an important development for Ethiopia’s financial landscape, Tilahun Kassahun has been appointed as the founding CEO of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX). The decision was made during the latest board meeting chaired by Helaway Tadesse, where Tilahun’s expertise and experience were recognized as vital for the success of the exchange. ESX, which was officially […]
Safaricom, the leading telecommunications company in East Africa, has announced its half-year performance for the financial year 2023/24, depicting results in both Ethiopia and Kenya. In Ethiopia, Safaricom launched its services in August 2023, after being awarded a license to operate in the country. The company has achieved remarkable traction in one month, with 7 […]
The Ministry of Water and Energy in Ethiopia is taking steps to facilitate private investment in renewable energy generation and distribution. To achieve this, the Ministry collaborated with the International Solar Alliance and organized a consultation in Addis Ababa this week. The primary objective of the event was to promote the widespread adoption of solar […]
The Ethiopian economy is projected to grow by 6.1 percent in 2023, after expanding by 6.1 percent in 2022 and 6.4 percent in 2021/22, according to the projections of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook report. The report attributes Ethiopia’s robust growth to the recovery of the agricultural sector, public infrastructure investment, and […]
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has taken a significant step in regulating the mobile money industry by issuing a revised Payment Instrument Issuer Directive. This directive, following the amendment of the Payment Systems Proclamation, introduces a set of new regulations and changes. Notable updates include detailed requirements for foreign mobile money service providers in […]
Fitch Ratings, a prominent credit rating agency, has made a significant adjustment by downgrading Ethiopia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from ‘CCC-‘ to ‘CC’. Simultaneously, the agency has reaffirmed the Long-Term Local-Currency IDR (LTLC) at ‘CCC-‘. This downgrade underscores Fitch’s deepening concerns regarding Ethiopia’s diminishing external liquidity, escalating external financing gaps, and the […]
Following a public sector-led growth model, Ethiopia recorded robust real GDP growth, averaging 10.2% per annum during 2005-2019. However, by 2019, the model started showing its limits, even before the domestic conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukrain war. Real GDP growth decelerated to 8.4% in 2019 and 6.4% in 2022; inflation rose from 5.2% […]
