A woman collects remnants of her former business amidst the rubble around the Mebrat Hail area. A task force swept through the capital last week, demolishing what it considers informal and illicit vendors largely working within tents pitched on the side of main roads. Several estimates swing around 40pc as to the size of the informal sector in the Ethiopian economy, with less than one percent having insurance and around 10pc having access to formal credit. In an effort to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio of the country from six percent, a concerted effort has been launched to levy new taxes and also bring more businesses into the formal sector.  

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