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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the forthcoming legislation to allow foreign ownership in the real estate sector on national TV. In a bid to open its economy, particularly considering its recent civil war, Ethiopia has been launching initiatives to bring in foreign investors. Its latest move to this effect is the passing of a bill to let foreigners own real estate in the country. Before this, the East African country had placed severe restrictions on some of its major industries.
The East African country as presently constructed prohibits foreigners from owning houses be it commercial or residential within its borders. This constitutes a roadblock to full-on foreign investments in the Ethiopian economy. According to State TV, the prime minister announced that his administration was finalizing a new law that would allow foreigners to acquire real estate property during a meeting of influential taxpayers in the capital Addis Ababa. However, he did not specify when the legislation would be tabled in parliament.
This initiative is hardly isolated, as the government of Ethiopia has been taking steps to open up its economy to foreign businesses. Recently, the government has eased access to some of the country’s tightly controlled industries, including telecoms and banking. Over the past two years, the nation has allowed foreign companies to participate in its banking and telecommunications sectors, enabling Kenyan banks KCB and Safaricom to establish operations.
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The idea is to bolster an economy with over 100 million people. In November 2023, the country announced plans to introduce its local currency securities exchange platform and loosen its prohibitions on foreign involvement in its domestic financial markets. Only natives and Ethiopian expatriates are permitted to engage in or run enterprises in other industries, which has severely curtailed the amount of foreign participation in the nation’s financial markets.
