Opening Remark

Dr Eyob Tekalign, State Minister of Ministry of Finance, delivered the Opening Remark at the 4th Annual East Africa Finance Summit. The state minister, noted, "a three-year Home-grown Economic Reform agenda has been launched to sustain the nation’s rapid growth and attain a ‘middle-income’ status economy", and this agenda serves as a blueprint for the immediate reform measures that must be taken to address new growth opportunities. With regards to the finance sector, he underlined the need to bring the sector up to par. "In the next three years, the government will focus on strengthening the regulatory environment and putting in place a domestic system that is able to compete on international standards.” He stressed that the financial sector reform will be at the backbone of the economic reform agenda and to meet the country’s aspirations. Having outlined the existing capacity and regulatory drawbacks and the steps to be taken to rectify them, the state minister distinguished strides made. Furthermore, he stated the sector should also work to backstop the national development aspirations fully which primarily entails improving access to finance. In closing, he remarked on the government’s keenness to work with all actors to deliver on shared development aspirations for a prosperous and inclusive Ethiopia and acknowledged the summit for facilitating the engagement. Find the full speech HERE: to watch the video CLICK HERE.