Temesgen Truneh Urges Investors to Engage With Ethiopia’s Reforms

What changed

Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Truneh urged investors and development partners to engage with the country’s reform agenda at the second Ethiopia Finance Forum in Addis Ababa on September 29, 2026. He called for broader finance access for women, youth, farmers and small businesses, deeper financial and capital markets, stronger digital infrastructure and more private capital for productive investment.

Why it matters

The message was less about announcing a new deal than about turning an economic reform programme into something people and businesses can use. The government wants finance to reach beyond established institutions and support smaller firms, farmers and underserved groups while building the systems needed for larger domestic and international investment.

That puts the emphasis on execution. Truneh reaffirmed macroeconomic stability, sustained reform and partnership with the private sector, but the forum produced no new funding commitments, projects, policy instruments or timelines. His call to convert discussion into action is therefore the clearest test of what comes next: whether the institutions and markets described in Addis Ababa begin producing concrete opportunities.