Teklewold atnafu biography sampler

Yohannes Ayalew oversaw impressive turnaround during four-year tenure

Yohannes Ayalew (PhD) has resigned from his post as president of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) after four years at the helm overseeing a radical improvement in the ailing policy bank’s books.

Getachew Belay, DBE’s Acting Vice president for corporate, has overtook as acting president of the bank, to fill the void, according to sources. He said that the public has given their trust to the banking sector because of the Central Bank’s  strong leadership and control mechanism. In 1998, excluding the Development Bank of Ethiopia, in 1998 there was around 14 billion birr deposited in two private banks and a total of 15.1 billion birr deposited in all banks.

This year, however, as of June 30, 451.8 billion birr was deposited in state banks and 277 billion birr deposited in private banks.

He replaced Tegegnework Gettu, a former under-secretary-general of the UN Development Program (UNDP).

Finance Minister Ahmed Shide replaced Teklewold as CBE board chair.

The reshuffle reunited Yohannes and Teklewold, who had previously worked together at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).

Yohannes came on board at DBE in September 2020, replacing Haileyesus Bekele at a time when the state policy bank was in deep trouble.

Yohannes oversaw comprehensive reform efforts at the bank, which were rewarded with reports of profits following several years of heavy losses.

DBE staff who worked under Yohannes said their farewells to the outgoing president on Friday, one week after he tendered his resignation, according to The Reporter’s sources.

“He delivered nothing but efficiency and unmatched performance,” said one staff member who spoke anonymously.

Sources say that although Yohannes cited personal reasons for his abrupt and unexpected resignation, a recent shuffle on the DBE board is behind the move.

In February 2024, the federal government moved to reshuffle the boards of the DBE and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

Teklewold Atnafu, a monetary policy advisor to the Prime Minister, was assigned as chair of the DBE board from his position as chair of the CBE board.

Addisu said that the loan portfolio was about 8.8 billion in 1998 at public banks and four private banks dispersed 816 million. Now that figure has reached 179.9 billion 181.9 billion in loans respectively.
Another success has been expanding the number of branches, Addisu said.
He thinks the success is a result of  economic growth.

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Private employees’ pensions, saving bonds and housing saving schemes in addition to aggressive public saving and expanding branches has been introduced to fill the financial demand.
Teklewold, who is the eighth governor in the history of NBE, succeeded Dubale Jale in 2006, while Yohannes served as vice governor for the last seven years.
At the same event EBA also welcomed the new leaders.
In a related development NBE has got a new board chairperson after the former chair, Mekonnen Manyazewal, retired recently.
According to the information that Capital obtained, the new NBE board chair is Girma Birru (Amb), former ambassador to the US.

The other board members are Abraham Tekeste (PhD), Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Eyob Tekalegn, Commissioner of National Planning Commission, Teklewold, now advisor to the PM, and Yinager and Bekalu.

The Ethiopian government is looking to raise USD 12 billion in financing to implement its new three-year economic reform plan, according to Teklewold Atnafu, economic advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD).

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The funds would come from institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, as well as from restructuring Ethiopia’s debts, Teklewold told the Amharic news publication Reporter.

Ethiopia’s improving relations with Western countries like the U.S.

and France could help it secure debt relief and financing, the advisor said. Foreign currency availability, implementation capacity, inflation and financial accessibility all must be dealt with in order to keep the growth going. DBE’s non-performing loan ratio had climbed to a staggering 57 percent at around the time of the leadership change.

The poor performance had led lawmakers at Parliament to consider dissolving the bank as it struggled under the weight of years of alleged embezzlement, foregone loans, and investment in failed commercial farming projects largely concentrated in the Gambella region.

Yohannes’ four-year tenure saw a successful turnaround at DBE, which has managed to get its NPL ratio to 6.5 percent under his leadership.

However, he acknowledged that policy conditions tied to IMF and World Bank loans could be a sticking point in the negotiations.

One major issue is foreign exchange liberalization, which the IMF wants Ethiopia to pursue more aggressively. “To some extent we have registered good achievements,” he said.
He does admit there are challenges that must be addressed.