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Jan 25 , 2025

Birr in Tumble, Reform Rhetoric Meets Bitter Economic Realities

Grand ambitions have long driven Ethiopia's successive leaders, but they remain weighed down by deep structural vulnerabilities. But, nowhere is this more evident than in the monetary policy front, where policymakers let market forces guide Birr's value against a basket of major currencies. The b...

Jan 18 , 2025

Breaking the Chains to Protect the Vulnerable During Painful Reforms

Adanech Abebie, the mayor of Addis Abeba, addressed last week a warm-up session for her party's upcoming convention, urging cadres of the Prosperity Party - Prosperitians - to embrace what she described as “broad and inclusive” gains. Her assertions might have inspired the foot soldiers of the incumbent had it not collided with the realities unfolding across the country. But it manifests a contradiction between official narratives of transformation and the depressing figures documenting widespread deprivation that casts a pall over the leaders' declarations of prosperity. Despite policy...


Jan 4 , 2025

The Year That Falls Short in Lofty Ambitions, Brittle Realities

Time seldom passes without prompting reflection, and the dawn of 2025 should nudge Ethiopians into contemplating their trajectory as the first quarter of the 21st Century closes. This vast country of over 100 million people, endowed with abundant resources yet wracked by recent turmoil, has had successive leaders over the past 25 years scrambling to secure stability, economic opportunity, and security. In the two decades of the century, they managed explosive growth that earned plaudits from the World Bank and the IMF. Real GDP rose nearly 10pc annually between 2004 and 2018, while in 2023...


Dec 28 , 2024

The Bureaucrats Turn to Masters of Misrule, Architects of Uncertainty

On a flight between Juba and Addis Abeba, Stefan Dercon, a professor of economic policy and former chief economist at Britain's Department for International Development (DfID), penned a forward to a book, “Deals & Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes.” It was 2018, a time when many hailed the new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed (PhD), as a herald of meaningful political and economic reforms. Dercon contrasted South Sudan's dismal slide into patronage-fuelled opulence with Ethiopia's seemingly brighter trajectory. He pilloried South Sudan's elite for squandering oil weal...

Editorials

Banks Struggle to Lend as Branches Bloom, Coffers Wither

A severe cash shortage squeezes the economy, and the deposit-to-loan ratio has slumped below 80pc, hitting its lowest point in decades. The scarcity of credit, often termed a credit crunch, has a stra...

Dec 21 , 2024

Addis Abeba's Gleaming Facade Masks a Parched Metropolis

The main avenues and thoroughfares of Addis Abeba have undergone an impressive facelift that is a source of marvel to visitors more so than its residents. Adopting a greyish colour — a bizarre choic...

Dec 14 , 2024

When More of Everything Leaves Less in the Bank

Ethiopia's monetary policy has shifted conspicuously in recent years. Gone is the era of demand-side tinkering; under Governor Mamo Mihretu, the central bank is now guided by supply-side doctrines and...

Dec 7 , 2024

Fueling Reform, the Petroleum Sector Caught Between Monopoly Missteps, Market Liberalisation

For decades the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE), a state-owned giant entrusted with importing and distributing fuel, dominated the energy sector. It administered 13 reserve depots spread...

Nov 30 , 2024

Crafting Public Service Reward in a Cash-Strapped Economy

In the corridors of government offices worldwide, the question of how much to pay members of the public service is no longer a dry fiscal matter. It has become a defining test of leadership, fiscal di...

Nov 23 , 2024

During Taxing Times, Tax Hunt Tests the Limits of an Unsteady Economy

The fiscal puzzle deepens as the Council of Ministers approved a supplementary budget of 581 billion Br last week, over half the federal budget ratified only months ago. Not even halfway through the f...

Nov 16 , 2024

Bound by Debt, Government's Costly Love Affair with State Bloat

In the realm of public finance, balance sheets speak louder than rhetoric. In such domain, public enterprises are colossal monuments to misplaced confidence, harbouring debts that tower like unscalabl...

Nov 9 , 2024

Policy Bargain in Franco Valuta a Double-Edged Sword in the Forex Debacle

Ethiopia's foreign exchange debacle resembles a tangled web of contradictions and constraints. The country's trade financing state remains besieged by systemic bottlenecks, escalating costs, and a wid...

Nov 2 , 2024

Addis Abeba Withering as Noise, Air Pollutions Choke the 'New Flower'

Addis Abeba, fondly dubbed a 'New Flower,' is wilting under the weight of unchecked urban growth. While the capital's main thoroughfares gleam with new infrastructure — separate lanes for pedestrian...

Oct 26 , 2024

Mercato Inferno Lays Bare Ethiopia's Vulnerabilities to Disasters

When flames devoured parts of Mercato, residents watched helplessly as decades of toil turned to ashes. The inferno, one of nearly 200 reported in the city this year, consumed more than stalls and mer...

Oct 20 , 2024

Floating the Birr Makes It Struggle to Keep Its Head Above Water

Central Bank authorities have unveiled no less than six new guidelines to fine-tune the foreign exchange market, following their bold decision in late July 2024 to liberalise the exchange regime. Aban...

Oct 12 , 2024

With the Horn Edging to the Brink, Regional Leaders Should Extol Trust

In his inaugural address on October 27, 2024, Taye Atseqesellasie, the fifth president since the 1995 constitution, extolled mutual trust as Ethiopia's most valuable legacy for future generations. Yet...

Oct 5 , 2024

Birr's Unmoored Descent Threatens to Drown an Economy Awash in Debt

Not long ago, the sight of exchange bureaus in Addis Abeba was as rare as a cloudless day in the rainy season. But a recent decision by the Central Bank to grant five non-bank entities permits to trad...

Sep 28 , 2024

Not to Turn the "Land of Origins" into a Land of Uneven Promises

In the early 2010s, Ethiopian authorities found themselves at odds with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Fund cautioned that the country's rapid economic expansion overheated the economy, ig...

Sep 21 , 2024

The Civil Service Gets a Pay Boost, But Inflation Laughs Last

A nurse in Addis Abeba shares a cramped one-room apartment with three colleagues. Her meagre salary barely covers food and transport. Like many employed by the public service sector, whose monthly ave...

Sep 14 , 2024

Drowning in Budget Gap, Universities Chase Autonomy. Can They Afford It?

Successive regimes share a common legacy: a deep-seated commitment to education as a vehicle for economic growth and social mobility. From the reign of Emperor Menelik II to the present day, each admi...


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Birr in Tumble, Reform Rhetoric Meets Bitter Economic Realities


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Birr in Tumble, Reform Rhetoric Meets Bitter Economic Realities

Grand ambitions have long driven Ethiopia's successive leaders, but they remain weighed do...

Editorial | Jan 25 , 2025

New Roads Stimulate Post-Dusk Energy, Revamp Evening Scenes

Melese Gizaw, a former soldier from the Derg regime, finds himself drawn to cafes since le...

Featured | Jan 19 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

New Traffic Rules Add Financial Strain on Addis Abeba Drivers

Binyam Tesfaye, a 31-year-old father of two, is struggling under the weight of Addis Abeba...

Agenda | Jan 25 , 2025 . By ROBERA GETACHEW

MOTORISTS HIT BRAKES ON TOUGHER FINES

Many motorists face new and stricter traffic regulations introduced by the Council of Mini...

Fortune News | Jan 25 , 2025 . By ROBERA GETACHEW