The board of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) has appointed Yohannes Ayalew (PhD), the former vice governor and chief economist of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), as the new president, replacing Haileyesus Bekele. A board director of DBE, Yohannes was appointed to run the Bank beginning September 12, 2020. The board has dispatched his appointment letter to the central bank and to the Public Enterprises Holding & Administration Agency on the same date.

Yohannes, who was an executive director of the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, has to leave his role on the board before assuming the top executive position at the Bank, according to a source familiar with the case. It is not the first time a former vice governor has assumed such a responsibility. Getahun Nana, a former vice governor of the central bank, also had a debut as chief of Ethiopia's policy bank.