That $400K Deposit Notification

Welcome to the 74th edition of ፍራንክ Digest!

Your weekly brief on all things Finance and Investing. Quick, enjoyable reads for busy professionals in 5 minutes or less.

Here’s what’s coming your way:

• ⚡ BUZZ: AfDB Splashes The Cash on ECMA

• 🧑‍✈️ አይዞሽ ገለቴ: National Bank of Ethiopia Has a New Captain

• 🖼️ Big Picture

Thanks for reading!

BUZZ: New Toys on The Stock Market

Stock Market

Looks like X-mas came a little early this year as the good folks at the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) received a juicy present of USD 400,000 from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

It’s actually a grant that came out of the Ethiopia Capital Market Development Support Project, provided by the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund (CMDTF). 

Yes, the names are long and the acronyms ራስ የሚያዞሩ. We don’t want to lose you so early on, so bear 🐻 with us. 

Now before ECMA goes all ‘New Cash, Who Dis?’ it’s important to give some context: the goal with this new funding is to beef up access to market data and enable participants, eager fellow investors such as you and us, to get timely market data and speed up investment decision making. 

They’ve given it a cute name for it too: A ‘public disclosure platform’. We know what you’re thinking…”that’s not cute. That’s adorable!”. But let’s not get carried away here.

Nevertheless, it’s meant for the company that actually executes the transactions, the Ethiopian Stock Exchange (ESX), and is fintech speak for ‘this is where ESX tells you what’s going on’. Hmm, a fintech gossip blog of sorts. How ironic.

CMDTF, AfDB, ESX….OMG?! We know, another acronym and another long word. We promise, we’re only doing it because we love you❤️

What is supposed to come out of this? Besides accurate stock prices delivered to your phone? Well, new* financial products such as: 

• ETF or Exchange Traded Funds: a collection of assets that are grouped together such as different stocks, commodities, fixed-income etc. Ex: shares of Habesha Beer, Zemen Bank, iWork Technologies pulled into one big basket 

• Green Bonds: same as other bonds (Not the actors that portrayed 007), green bonds are bought and traded on the market with the promise of paying interest on the debt. They are unique in the sense that they are solely used to finance environmental projects.

• Sukuks: the sharia compliant bond-like product that rewards holders through profits and not interest payments

*Clarification: ‘new’ for the Ethiopian Stock Market. These things are dinosaurs on the other side of the world.

So what’s the general outlook of this “new, but old news everywhere else” step then? The answer is guarded. If money is well spent, with the right initiatives, we should see the democratization of financial data. No more hush hush inside info being reserved for the five guys who already know everyone at ESX.

Next step? Throwing that cash 💵 at these products.

 Big Picture

‘Ding!’: The ECMA got a text and for once it wasn’t spam or a marketing message from Ethio Telecom. It’s a deposit notification that already cleared!

The AfDB is pushing to supercharge the Ethiopian Capital Market initiative. An information dispensing platform will definitely bridge the wide gap between what’s going on in the market and what consumers are looking for.

The main question will always be, how prepared is the common Ethiopian investor, not just in understanding, but also in relinquishing their hard earned money in this potentially money printing machine?

ፍራንክ Picks 

🚶🏽 Event: International Energy Fair [Oct 16-18, 2025 @ Millennium Hall]

🗞️ In the news: CANAL+ buys Multichoice for USD 2B, DSTV’s parent

♟️ Innovation: CBE goes ‘all systems go’ after quite system upgrade

“Hang in There!” as NBE Changes Captain

Economy

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) just swapped pilots mid-flight.

Mamo Mihretu, the reform-happy governor who spent two years trying to steer Ethiopia’s economy through inflation, foreign exchange shortages and the great birr float experiment, has exited the cockpit.

Enter Dr. Eyob Tekalign, former State Minister of Finance, now tasked with keeping the plane in the air, preferably without any turbulence.

But before we talk Eyob let’s rewind, because Mamo didn’t leave an empty desk. He left a bit of a legacy and a whole lot of unfinished assignments.

Mamo Mihretu: The Reformer Who Hit “Send” But Didn’t Stay for the Replies

A World Bank alumnus, former head of Ethiopian Investment Holding (EIH) and senior economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mamo came in hot as the Governor of Ethiopia’s National Bank in January 2023 and immediately started sifting through boxes that had been collecting dust for decades:

• Floated the birr. Not literally, no birr notes were harmed in the process. But his market-based FX reform did narrow the gap between the official and black market exchange rates. Painful in the short term, but frankly necessary.

• Opened the banking sector to foreign players, paving the way for a future where your bank app might actually work before lunch.

• Tried to tame inflation, pulling it down from 30+% to still-painful but survivable ~14%.

• Tripled forex reserves, which sounds glamorous until you remember how low they were to begin with.

Mamo was bold, occasionally controversial, and definitely busy. He pushed Ethiopia closer to global norms in record time.

In short, Mamo was the guy rearranging all the furniture while the house was still under construction. And, overall he did a good job.

Well, almost…

What He Didn’t Finish

Quite literally, all of the above.
Mamo leaves behind reforms that look good but aren’t fully baked in real life. Leaving now means jumping off the plane just as it rolled down the runway for take-off and saying “አይዞሽ ገለቴ!” to all Ethiopians.

Enter Eyob Tekalign, The New Pilot

Thankfully, Eyob isn’t a rookie. He’s been State Minister of Finance (translation: the guy doing the actual work at the Ministry of Finance), head of the National Planning Commission, and has been haggling with big institutions like the World Bank and IMF. He even sits on the boards of the Ethiopian Investment Holding, Ethio Telecom and Ethiopian Electric Power. Safe to say, he knows how big state machinery creaks and groans.

Nevertheless. He inherits not just the seat, but the turbulence:

• The birr is still vulnerable and widely considered overvalued…expect further devaluation?

• Inflation has cooled but not cool enough for anyone that’s been grocery shopping in the last week.

• Forex market still delicate, shortages still sting

• Foreign banks are allowed in, but they are still standing outside the door, waiting to see if the house is on fire

• The central bank’s independence is now more promise than reality. Eyob comes directly straight from the center of government

• Debt restructuring still in motion.

• Public patience running on fumes.

His challenge? Make reforms stick, calm the market and make ordinary Ethiopians feel that monetary policy is doing something other than giving them a monthly headache.

That’s Great. So What?

If You’re a Small Business Owner

A steadier birr means fewer pricing headaches. Predictable monetary policy means you can borrow without praying for divine intervention on interest rates. But if things wobble? Your import bill explodes, loans get pricier, and customers keep delaying payment until “next month” becomes a whole year.

If You’re a Salaried Employee

Inflation at ~14% is double the 7% savings interest you’re getting at the bank, meaning you’re losing money by saving money. Although buying government bonds nowadays offers a tenable solution to passively keeping up with inflation.

Taming inflation could mean your paycheck stops evaporating by the 15th of the month. But if policy gets messy, real wages slide further, bonuses get stingier, and you spend more time debating whether you really need that 2000 birr per kilo ኮረሪማ.

 Big Picture

Shake our collective heads.

Mamo started a relay race, got off to a good start but passed the baton halfway through his lap. Now Eyob has to pick up where Mamo left off, run the hardest part, avoid tripping, and still wave at the IMF, investors, and the Ethiopian public along the way.

The good news: Eyob has the technocratic chops. Whew!
The bad news: no one cares about technocratic chops, if this means less autonomy to the central bank.

This next chapter may be less about big reform announcements and more about delivery and follow through on what’s already been announced. Both the World Bank and IMF caution against reform fatigue. If Eyob can calm prices, keep the birr from nosediving and get foreign banks actually opening branches (not just holding press conferences), he could turn this passing of the baton into a proper handoff.

If not? We might all wish those foreign banks were already here to lend us stress-relief loans.

Thanks for sticking with us, ፍራንክ family! Keep those wallets smart and your inbox open - we’ll be sliding in next week!