Ethiopia Opens Stock Exchange in Drive for Investors

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rang a Wall Street-style bell to officially launch the country’s first stock exchange in 50 years on Friday, part of efforts to liberalise the struggling economy. Only one company was listed on the exchange on opening day — Wegagen Bank — but an official said they were aiming to eventually include 90 firms and four million investors, without setting a timeline…Since taking power in 2018, Abiy has been a vocal supporter of opening up the heavily state-controlled economy to competition and foreign investment. But internal conflicts — including a devastating civil war in the northern Tigray region between 2020 and 2022 — have led to sanctions by the United States and hampered reforms…Ethiopia has not had any form of stock exchange in 50 years, since the 1974 fall of Emperor Haile Selassie and the rise of a Marxist-inspired regime, known as the Derg, which nationalised the economy. (AFP)Ethiopia