Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Mulls Adding Stock, Bond Trading

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange plans to broaden the range of crops it trades and wants to introduce stocks and bonds under a five-year expansion plan, Chief Executive Officer Ermias Eshetu said.

The market plans to move from coffee and sesame seeds, which account for more than 90 percent of volumes and are the two biggest generators of foreign exchange in Ethiopia, to sugar and grains such as corn, Ermias, who became CEO in January, said in an interview. Equities, government debt, power and metals may also be added on the bourse, which traded 26.2 billion birr ($1.3 billion) worth of goods last year.