Ethiopia Plans to Open Banking sector to Foreign Competitors

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Ethiopia plans to open its banking sector to foreign competition as soon as parliament passes policies that allow it, referring to poor reforms in one of the last major sectors of the economy that have not yet been liberalized.

Actions are being taken to open up the telecoms sector, with a consortium including Vodafone and Japan's Sumitomo.

Abiy told lawmakers that the fact that Ethiopia had closed its doors to foreign banks had benefited the sector so far. "But then, banks need to prepare themselves with modern methods and information technologies," he added.

"The government is also preparing some policy adjustment, and once the preconditions are met and the banks are prepared, we will implement it," he concluded.

According to the Central Bank, Ethiopia now has 18 commercial banks, two of which are state-owned.