Ethiopia launched a securities exchange on Friday, in what officials touted as a milestone in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's drive to open up the country's tightly controlled economy to private investment.

Abiy Ahmed hails launch as historic milestone for economic and financial landscape of Horn of Africa country - Anadolu Ajansı

Ethiopia opened its stock exchange — part of a plan to lure investors to an economy recovering from a civil war — without any brokers and no initial public offering debuts.

The Ethiopian Securities Exchange will start operations this Friday. According to CEO , Tilahun Kassahun, this is a big step forward for the country. The first shares to be sold will come from Ethio Telecom,