Ethiopia Registers Remarkable Progress in Capital Market Development

Addis Ababa, December 10, 2025—Ethiopia has made a significant progress in capital market development, Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) Director-General Hana Tehelku said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the Director-General said completing the necessary regulatory frameworks and licensing intermediaries that can facilitate the capital raise in Ethiopia have been the prior steps taken by ECMA.

The first step taken by the Authority was completing key regulatory frameworks to license  Capital Market Service Providers (CMSPs) like investment banks and advisors.

In this regard, the Authority has succeeded in kick-starting the capital market in Ethiopia, Hana noted.

In March 2025 the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) granted licenses to five new capital market service providers (CMSPs) in a significant step toward the development and expansion of Ethiopia’s financial markets.

The Director-General added that the second step was licensing intermediaries that can facilitate the capital raise in Ethiopia.

“We now have four investment banks, one dealer broker, and the other ones are securities investment advisors; and we will continue to have a lot of applications for licensing,” she elaborated.

 

 

The Director-General also reiterated the commitment of ECMA to licensing intermediaries as per the capital market service providers’ directive.

“We will receive a number of registration statements alongside prospectus from existing issuers, including banks, insurance companies, micro-finances and private sectors.”

One of the agendas of the Authority is providing alternative avenue for the government and for the private sector to secure funding and financing, Hana noted, adding that this will greatly reduce the reliance on external debt.

For the private sector, it is a kind of providing an alternative source of financing from the existing bank-based financing.

For Hana, providing alternative finance for the private sector would be an additional engine for the growth of the private sector and for the intent of the government to basically establish an economy whereby the private sector is the engine for economic development in Ethiopia.

The development of Ethiopia's capital market is therefore a central pillar of the government's economic strategy, envisioned as an engine for the country's economic transformation and growth.

This initiative is part of a broader reform agenda to modernize the economy and reduce reliance on traditional bank financing.