Afreximbank Lauds Ethiopia’s Growing Financial Sector

Addis Ababa, June 4, 2025 (ENA)— African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has praised Ethiopia’s transformative economic reforms, reaffirming its commitment to scaling up continued support for one of Africa’s fastest growing economies.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Client Relations Acting Group Managing Director at Afreximbank, Eric Monchu Intong commended Ethiopia’s immense reforms being implemented in various spheres.

“Ethiopia is making us proud and giving us hope; the reforms have been immense in the financial sector, the deregulation of the FX market, and the encouragement of local manufacturing for import substitution,” he said.

He noted the agricultural sector as a whole, the transportation sector, the local manufacturing, the logistics, and all the other sectors are driven by the financial sector.

He added “We can use our credit intervention, be it short term loans, medium term loans, long term loans, or we can use our guarantees and specialized financing using short term, medium term, and long-term guarantee to de-risk investment.”

For the Acting Group Managing Director, Ethiopia is a founding member of Afreximbank, a Pan-African multilateral financial institution and a key supporter of the bank's initiatives.

Since 2021, we have set about 2 billion USD to Ethiopia on a revolving basis, he said.

Given the GDP, the population and the size of the economy as well as the reforms under implementation, the 2 billion USD revolving support is not enough, he disclosed.

“I think comfortably, we can manage an exposure of 5 billion USD over the next three to five years,” he affirmed.

The bank has also expressed its readiness to finance trade and trade enabling projects such as railways, airports, industrial parks, local manufacturing, and valueadded exports, like coffee, among others.

Ethiopia’s GDP is expected to continue its upward trajectory, reflecting Ethiopia’s position as one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, he further noted.