Issuance framework
Treasury Bills are issued under the government’s public borrowing framework, which determines how government securities are offered and how public debt financing is managed.
In Ethiopia, the T-Bill market is governed by Directive No. 296/2020 on the establishment and operation of the Government of Ethiopia Treasury Bills market, the legal basis for how bills are offered, auctioned, and settled.
Auction rules
Treasury Bill auctions follow defined operational procedures covering:
These rules create consistency in how auctions operate.
Market access rules
Retail investors typically access Treasury Bills through licensed intermediaries, which helps ensure participation happens through supervised market channels.
Since trading officially opened on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), individuals can now participate in government securities through regulated brokers, with a minimum stake of just 5,000 birr.
Applicable fees
Participation costs are capped by the ESX fee schedule. Two regulated components apply to Treasury Bills:
Collected and transferred by ESX Members and Trading Participants on Treasury Bill transactions.
The maximum a member of the Exchange may charge on a Treasury Bill.
Source: ESX fee schedule (March 2025). Always confirm current fees with your intermediary before investing.
Securities recordkeeping & settlement
Treasury Bills are increasingly managed through digital securities infrastructure. The Central Securities Depository (CSD) supports:
This improves efficiency and transparency.
Market conduct & supervision
Licensed participants operate under regulatory oversight, which helps promote:
For investors, this structure means Treasury Bills are not informal investment arrangements. They operate within a supervised market system with defined rules and operational safeguards.
Treasury market rules and infrastructure may continue to evolve as Ethiopia’s capital markets deepen and digital market systems expand.