South Africa’s Absa bank has become the latest multinational corporation to express interest in exploiting the Ethiopian market, following last year’s decision by reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to liberalise the economy. Ethiopia has long prevented foreign ownership in economic sectors including banking, but Abiy has embarked on rapid political, diplomatic and economic reforms since coming to power in April. An entrance into the Ethiopian market of 100 million people, while not imminent, would be part of a strategy Absa laid out after its split from Britain’s Barclays in 2017. The bank had already highlighted Nigeria as key to future growth, where Quinn said there was a “nice opportunity” for Absa in corporate and investment banking. Kenya’s biggest bank by assets, KCB Bank said in July last year, that it was ‘ready to invest’ in Ethiopia as opportunities arise from a possible liberalisation of foreign investment rules.

Source: Ethiopian News March 12, 2019 09:22 UTC