EthSwitch Unveils Unified Government Payment Platform
EthSwitch presented UGPP as a way of addressing fragmentation in government payments, where public agencies and billers can maintain separate integrations with financial institutions and customers may have to navigate different platforms and channels to settle bills.
Ethiopia’s national payment switch, EthSwitch , has presented a Unified Government Payment Platform designed to bring fragmented public bill-payment channels onto a single interoperable network, as the country pursues wider financial-sector and digital-payment reforms.
The platform, known as UGPP, was presented at the Ethiopia Finance Forum 2026 by Kidus Menfese, Senior Business Analyst at EthSwitch. The forum, convened by the National Bank of Ethiopia from September 29 to October 1, brings together policymakers, financial institutions, investors, development partners and industry leaders as Ethiopia works to strengthen its financial sector, expand financial inclusion and accelerate digital transformation.
Ethiopia is undertaking broad economic and financial reforms covering the foreign-exchange market, monetary policy, financial-sector regulation and greater private-sector participation. The National Bank has also been pursuing a second phase of its national digital-payments strategy, with greater interoperability and expanded digital financial services among its priorities.
Against that backdrop, EthSwitch presented UGPP as a way of addressing fragmentation in government payments, where public agencies and billers can maintain separate integrations with financial institutions and customers may have to navigate different platforms and channels to settle bills.
Its purpose is to establish a common national payment infrastructure that enables different financial institutions and customer-facing payment platforms to connect to government services through one interoperable system. The Unified Government Payment infrustructure is using an architectural approach that ensures interoperability and enables payment solutions to be unified through the national switch. Customers would be able to make payments through mobile applications, ATMs, USSD, bank branches and agents, using account-based payments, QR codes and alias-based payments.
The presentation also outlined how the platform could connect government billers, financial institutions, payment channels and customers within a more integrated payment ecosystem. The initiative is closely aligned with the National Bank of Ethiopia’s digital-payments roadmap. The bank’s 2026–2030 draft strategy identifies fragmentation in government payment collections and disbursements as a challenge and calls for a unified e-government service platform to centralize public-service payments.
During the forum, EthSwitch also briefed Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide and NBE Governor Eyob Tekalign on its services and role in Ethiopia’s digital financial infrastructure, according to the company.
EthSwitch has positioned its work on person-to-government and government-to-person payments within Ethiopia’s Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy, the National Digital Payments Strategy and the broader development of digital public infrastructure.
The Ethiopia Finance Forum is taking place at the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa. Its 2026 programme includes discussions on macroeconomic reform, financial inclusion, banking-sector investment, digital public infrastructure and the future development of Ethiopia’s financial sector.
