The development bank of Ethiopia (DBE) is one of the financial institutions engaged in providing short, medium and long term development credits. DBE’s distinguishes feature is its “project” based lending tradition. Project financed by the Bank are carefully selected and prepared through appraised, closely supervised and systematically evaluated.

Since its establishment in 1909, the bank has been playing a significant role in promoting overall economic development of the country.

The history of Development Bank of Ethiopia goes back to 1909 when the first attempts of its kind known as The Societe Narionale d' Ethiopie Pour le Development de l' agriculture et de Commerce (The Society for the promotion of Agriculture and Trade) was established in the Menelik II era. Since then the Bank has taken different names at different times although its mission and business purpose has not undergone significant changes except for occasional adjustment that were necessitated by change in economic development policies of the country.