VenturesNow

Ethiopia to issue banking incence to foreign investors

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2023

A senior official at Ethiopia’s central bank, Solomon Desta has revealed that the country plans to issue up to five banking licences to foreign investors in the next five years.

The move is said to be part of the initiative to open up the financial services sector to foreign competition.”We will give three to five licenses within five years,” Desta told reporters.

Desta stated that foreign investors would have different options to enter the industry, including forming joint ventures with domestic players or establishing local subsidiaries.

Liberalisation of the banking sector has been on the front burner of the government as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has promised to open up the sector.

The banking sector in Ethiopia is dominated by the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, and 29 other players, all of whom are locally owned.

The government intends to follow its policy of two years ago which granted a telecoms licence to a private operator to break the monopoly of state-owned Ethio Telecom in that sector.

Ethiopia is currently recovering from two years of war in its Tigray region which clipped economic activity in the Northern region. The country remains in the eye of investors, with targets on sectors like telecoms, transportation, and aviation.

Related Topics:Banking Ethiopia Featured

Click to comment

VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

1 day ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

VenturesNow

Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

3 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.