Ethiopia’s central bank has scrapped all controls on commercial lending and deposit rates, in a sweeping deregulation move expected to reshape liquidity, credit pricing and competition across the country’s banking sector.
Under Directive No. NBE/INT/13/2026, issued by the National Bank of Ethiopia and effective January 9, 2025, banks will now be allowed to freely set their own interest rates across all loan and deposit products, according to the document seen by Addis Insight.
The change marks the end of decades of state-administered pricing in one of Africa’s most closed financial systems. The directive repeals all previous rate-setting rules and transfers pricing power to bank boards, which must establish written criteria for determining returns on savings, time deposits and loan facilities.
No Comment Found.