Ethiopia's and East Africa's tallest building, the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has been inaugurated in Addis Ababa on Sunday, February 13, 2022. The grand opening of the 209-meter-long 53-storey tower also marks the 80th anniversary of CBE.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the building, which rests on 165,476.4m2 and is built at a cost of $303.5 million. The construction of the building has lasted 5 years and 11 months.
"It is delighting to see that CBE, on its 80th anniversary completed this state-of-the-art building. In order for our banks to compete with international banks, they need far more modernization in terms of manpower and operation aside [from] erecting such magnificent buildings," Prime Minister Abiy said.
The new CBE headquarters houses conference and commercial centers as well as facilities that are open for public access including exhibition area, cafeteria, sighting area, shopping mall, cinema, gymnasium, spa, restaurant and game and others.
The CBE headquarters building is the third tallest in Africa, after the Great Mosque of Algiers in Algiers, Algeria, and the Leonardo, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Established in 1942, the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the largest bank in East Africa, employing over 40,000 permanent workers, and serving over 31.4 million customers across its over 1,800 branches.
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Sources: CBE, ENA, Ethiopian Monitor
Image Source: CBE
