Ethiopia’s 1st Stock Exchange underway

For the year 2020, Ethiopia is gearing up to open its first Stock Exchange market in over 45 years. With it, Africa will add one more stock exchange floor under its belt bringing the total number of working bourse on the continent to 30. Almost half a century ago, back in the 70s, there was vibrant share trading at the National Bank of Ethiopia. That was in fact, one of the first, if not the very first, trading floor on the continent. Well, at least one that was not under colonial rule that is. Now, some 45 years later after the Derg took down what would have inevitably been Africa’s main stock trading floor, Ethiopia is well on its way to re-establishing the trading floor. Ethiopia becomes the 30th of Africa’s 51 countries to establish a stock trading institute under the auspices of the government. For one of the continent’s largest and fastest growing economies, many say the Ethiopian authorities have waited way too long to join the capital markets. All her neighbours have very active stock exchanges, backed with comprehensive regulations and commissions that are governed under capital markets laws. In fact all six countries that make up the