Economy
Ethiopia’s New Securities Exchange Faces Depth and Investor Confidence Test
Capital Ethiopia · 14 hours ago · Read the Full Story on Capital Ethiopia
AI SUMMARY
The OECD reports that while Ethiopia's launch of the ESX and Ethio Telecom's listing mark major milestones, the domestic capital market remains at an early, shallow stage with limited liquidity and investor participation.
- The Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) was established in 2025 to create initial trading infrastructure and a domestic securities framework.
- Ethio Telecom became the first state-owned enterprise listed on the exchange in May 2026 after offering a minority stake to citizens.
- The OECD notes that Ethiopia's capital market remains at an early stage with limited depth, liquidity, and investor participation.
- No additional state-owned enterprise listings are currently under preparation.
- Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) has published only one set of consolidated financial statements covering the 2022/23 fiscal year, and those statements were unaudited.
- The OECD recommends stronger financial reporting, greater board independence, and measures to build investor confidence.
- Africa accounted for just 0.4 per cent of global market capitalisation in 2024, with capital-market activity concentrated mainly in South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Morocco.
- African equity markets grew by 49 per cent in 2025, largely driven by higher valuations and secondary offerings rather than new listings.
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