The total capital of bank in Ethiopia has increased by around 8% to 85.7 billion birr (around $3.1 billion at the prevailing exchange rate) at the end of last Ethiopian fiscal year ended June 2018.
Compared to previous year the total capital of the 18 banks operating in the country has increased by 7.8%, according to the latest report of the central bank – National Bank of Ethiopia.
The share of the two state banks, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE),is 60.1%, while the remaining share belongs to the 16 private banks. The total capital of CBE is 43.85 billion birr (close to $1.2 billion),while DBE has registered a total capital of 7.6 billion birr (around $271 million).
The share of CBE is 51.1% of the total capital of the 18 banks currently operating in Ethiopia. The 16 private banks have registered a total capital of 34.22 billion birr, which 39.9% of the total capital of all banks in the country.
In Ethiopia all banks are owned by the local people as the country has not yet liberalized the market for foreign banks. Even though for many years there have been many interests from foreign countries to enter the banking sector of Ethiopia, the government didn’t opened the sector so far.
The recent announcement of the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, who activated partial privatization process of state monopolies in telecom, shipping lines and electricity, among others, didn’t include the banking sector in the list.
With around 100,000 shareholders, the 16 private banks currently operating in Ethiopia are: Awash International Bank, Dashen Bank, Cooperative Bank of Oromia, Hibret Bank, Wegagen Bank, Nib International Bank, Bank of Abyssinia,Oromia International Bank, Addis International Bank, Berhan Bank, Abay Bank, Debub Global Bank, Zemen Bank, Bunna International Bank, Anbessa International Bank and Enat Bank.