Ethiopia has picked Lazard Ltd, French investment bank and asset management firm to procure credit rating companies for its debut sovereign Eurobond, Reuters reported today.

In interview with Reuters in October, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said, the country will also consider "not only a Eurobond but other bonds as well", once it secured its credit rating.

"We chose a French company. The second phase will be to initiate a rating for the country," Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia's minister for finance and economic development, told a business forum attended by a delegation of 30 French firms.

The French delegation included officials from French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, according to Reuters.

Buoyed by massive government spending on infrastructure and a growth in its services and agriculture sectors, Ethiopia's economy is projected to grow 7.5 percent in each of the next two fiscal years, according to the IMF.

Source: Reuters