ECX signs research accord with NYU

Addis Ababa, July 27 (WIC) - The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) yesterday signed a three years research agreement with New York University to do collaborative research on such topics as “the impact evaluation of the exchange, the market design and relationship between the intermediaries and clients and optimal information flow.”

The Chief Strategy Officer at ECX, Bemnet Aschenaki, noted the Exchange had been in operation for four and half years, and “this is an opportunity for a trusted partner to do research and analyses on behalf of ECX,” and within the organization.

He said it was important for a third party to do the analyses. ECX couldn’t do an impact analyses on itself as this would create a conflict of interest. It was “honored NYU agreed to do the research,” he said.

Dr. Yaw Nyarko, Professor of Economics at New York University, explained that NYU was very large global university with campuses all over the world.

He said that as an African he was very happy doing research on African issues, and that as “the consequence of our partnership with ECX we will be making Ethiopia our Eastern Africa office.”

He pointed out that the University’s activities would also include attending conferences and seminars and that students from the university would be working in ECX.

The value of ECX rose by 368% between 2010 and 2011 and is now well over US$1billion.