NAIROBI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Equipment leasing company Ethio Lease, Ethiopia's only foreign-owned firm to obtain a financial services licence from the central bank, said on Wednesday it was winding down operations in the east African country. The National Bank of Ethiopia granted a financial services license to Ethio Lease in 2019 - the first such for a foreign firm - as part of the government's economic reforms aimed at opening up the economy. New York-based African Asset Finance Company, the owner of Ethio Lease, has instructed the company to begin the process of voluntary liquidation, Ethio Lease said in a statement. "Despite their sustained efforts, Ethio Lease and its investors have been unable to achieve resolution with the Ethiopian government." Ethio Lease's license enabled it to lease equipment such as MRI scanners, tractors and drilling rigs to companies that could not import such equipment themselves due to foreign exchange shortages.

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Persons: Abiy Ahmed, Bhargav Acharya, Duncan Miriri, Jason Neely, Alexander Winning, Nellie Peyton, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Equipment, Ethio, National Bank of, Lease, African Asset Finance Company, Ethio Lease, birr, Ethiopian, Thomson Locations: NAIROBI, National Bank of Ethiopia, New York, birr, Johannesburg, Nairobi