Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, H.E. Dr. Eyob Tekalign, took center stage at a Capacity Development Talk session on the sidelines of the 2026 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, presenting Ethiopia’s comprehensive financial sector reform agenda to an audience of senior officials from the IMF, World Bank, and European Commission.
Speaking to the theme of building markets, institutions, and stability in a challenging context, Governor Eyob outlined the structural transformation underway in Ethiopia’s financial system as part of the country’s Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda. He detailed the shift toward an interest rate-based monetary policy framework, the transition to a market-determined exchange rate, and the sweeping overhaul of the country’s regulatory architecture anchored by a new central bank proclamation and modernized banking legislation.
Central to the Governor’s message was the principle of ownership. Ethiopia’s reforms, he stressed, are nationally designed and strategically sequenced with technical assistance that is demand-driven and aligned with the country’s own development priorities, not externally prescribed.
Looking ahead, Governor Eyob pointed to deepening domestic financial markets and opening the sector to foreign investment as defining priorities for the next phase of reform, underscoring that durable progress requires sustained institutional capacity, policy continuity, and a financial system built to serve a growing, private sector-led economy.
Watch the full CD Talk | Financial Sector Overhaul in Ethiopia: Building Markets, Institutions, and Stability
