- Title: Ethiopia officially launches securities exchange
- Date: 10th January 2025
- Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JANUARY 10, 2025) (REUTERS) ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, RINGING CLOSING BELL WITH OFFICIALS / PEOPLE APPLAUDING SIGN READING (English): "ESX (ETHIOPIA SECURITIES EXCHANGE)" PEOPLE LEAVING MEETING HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER, ABIY AHMED, SAYING: "The capital market is something we had 50 to 60 years before with some l
- Embargoed: 24th January 2025 20:14
- Keywords: BOURSE ETHIOPIA EXCHANGE SECURITIES
- Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- City: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Topics: Africa,Economic Events,Equities Markets
- Reuters ID: LVA001239310012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ethiopia launched a securities exchange on Friday (January 10), in what officials touted as a milestone in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's drive to open up the country's tightly controlled economy to private investment.
Just one company, Wegagen Bank, was initially listed on the Ethiopian Security Exchange (ESX), although ESX chief executive Tilahun Kassahun said he expected 90 companies to eventually join.
State-owned telecom Ethio Telecom, which is preparing for an initial public offering, is also widely expected to list shares on the exchange.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country with around 130 million people, had a securities exchange in the 1960s and 70s, but it was abolished by the socialist military government that overthrew the monarchy in 1974.
It has registered some of the continent's fastest economic growth rates for years. Abiy's moves to liberalise the economy since coming to power in 2018 have attracted interest from foreign companies, including Kenya's Safaricom, which won the country's first private telecoms licence in 2021.
However, progress has been slowed by armed conflict in several parts of the country, including a 2020-2022 civil war in the northern Tigray region that killed hundreds of thousands. Some investors have also raised questions about the government's true commitment to liberalisation.
(Production: Kumerra Gemechu, Edwin Waita) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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