Editorials

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Aug 14 , 2026

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

Aschalew Fetene, known as “Ardi” and admired for his poetic depth, has built a time capsule for a rapidly changing Addis Abeba. The song “Woyzero Tesseru,” a standout on his album “Aschale,” released two years ago, is an elegy for the quarters long tied to the capital's cafes, jazz cl...

Aug 8 , 2026

In Going Digital, the State Designs for the Citizen It Wants to Have

The World Bank asks readers to picture a mother in rural Ethiopia who has never held a bank account, now able to borrow to start a small business. It also asks them to envision a homeless, internally displaced person in Addis Abeba, stripped of every paper document, "now digitally documented and able to access social protection programs." For an organisation that is bankrolling a 350 million dollars digital identity project, a.k.a. Fayda, the picture of "inclusion and services" appears to be seductive. The vision captures the appeal of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's technological agenda. Hi...

Jul 31 , 2026

The Rains May Fail, Policy Dare Not

Weldu Yiheysh has not read the Pacific temperature charts. He does not need to. In Shibta District of Enderta Wereda, in the Tigray Regional State, the farmer was still waiting two weeks ago to sow the crops that should feed his family. Much of the District had received no meaningful rain this season. Where farmers planted after brief showers, the clouds vanished again, leaving seeds in dry soil. Weldu bought fertiliser and seed with great difficulty, and their value now hangs on a sky that has become unreliable. His predicament captures the danger hovering in northern Ethiopia (covering...

Jul 25 , 2026

Cost Recovery by Public Institutions Becomes a Hidden Tax

Ideally, citizens who have paid income tax all year should not have to reach for their wallet again at a public office counter. Yet, in Ethiopia, that appears to have become a routine. To obtain a birth certificate, register land, renew a business permit or collect a court document, the taxpayer pays a second time, now as a user of the very services income taxes were meant to fund. The state, pressed for money to fill a budget deficit and unable to borrow from the Central Bank, is turning to fees, levies and charges to finance its operations at a time when households and firms are contendin...

Editorials

Jul 18 , 2026

Millions Looking for Work. Companies Cannot Find Many to Hire. A Paradox?

Pressed in Parliament on jobs and household incomes, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) offered a striking diagnosis. Jobs exist, he asserted; the workforce is missing. Ethiopians, he went on, should...

Jul 11 , 2026

Ethiopia Needs a Peace Premium the IMF Cannot Supply

At a market stall, reform arrives without a communique. It comes as a higher transport fare before sunrise, a smaller bag of onions at midday, a pharmacy bill that would not wait for payday, and a pro...

Jul 4 , 2026

The New Gold Standard Comes with a Warning Label

In the goldfields of the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia's balance-of-payments problem has taken human form. Around Asosa, Kamashi and Metekel, on the greenstone belt running towards the...

Jun 27 , 2026

The Rent Law Protects No One Well. Time to Rewrite It.

The federal legislative house rushed through one of the country's most contentious housing laws two years ago. Today, the result satisfies almost no one. Tenants still feel insecure, property owners f...

The Budget Bill Asks the Most from Citizens with the Least Slack

When Parliament takes up the appropriation bill, federal legislators will receive a document that looks disciplined and speaks the language of reform. However, within the 2.3 trillion Br federal bu...

Jun 13 , 2026

Logistics Reform Should Deliver More Than Market Entry by Foreign Capital

The recent policy decision to fully open freight forwarding to foreign capital may become yet another major test of the liberalisation drive of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's (PhD) Administration. It wou...

Jun 6 , 2026

The Elections Offered Order at the Centre, Silence at the Edges

For a political veteran as controversial as Getachew Reda, last week's national elections were never merely a contest over which name on the ballot commanded the larger support. It was also a gauge of...

May 30 , 2026

Mistaking Development Theatre for Public Trust Has a Cost

Tomorrow, millions of Ethiopians are expected to vote in the seventh national elections. According to the national electoral agency, more than 50 million voters are registered. Yet the poll may be the...

May 23 , 2026

Tax Push Tests How Much Pain Taxpayers Can Bear

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team has spent weeks in Addis Abeba conducting the fifth review of the macroeconomic reform programme it backs in Ethiopia. Its checklist would be familiar and har...

May 16 , 2026

T-Bills Trap Begins in the Federal Government's Own Budget

The federal budget tells a troubling story about inflation, debt and reform. The problem is not only that the state is short of money. It appears to be struggling to control the money it has. The book...

May 9 , 2026

Every Encounter with the State Should Not Become an Invoice

The Ethiopian state appears to have discovered a fiscal instrument that is politically convenient and administratively tempting yet economically burdensome for its citizens. It has gotten itself into...

May 2 , 2026

National Dialogue Has Everything But the Trust It Needs

By the time Ethiopia's National Dialogue Commission (ENDC) reached the end of its first three-year mandate, the country had gathered everything a dialogue needs, except for the one thing it cannot do...

Apr 25 , 2026

Addis Abeba's Roads Reveal a Country Where the Powerful Drive Through the Law

In a political community, official speeches show what governments want their citizens to see. But a country can be read through its roads, where streets show what citizens live with. In Addis Abeba...

Ethiopia's New Diplomacy Essence Could Be About Shielding Sovereignty

For much of the past three decades, Ethiopia occupied a familiar place in the Western imagination. It was a security partner in a combustible region, the Horn of Africa, a development darling with chr...

Voters' Registration Drive Risks Eroding Public Trust

The electoral process is again inviting uncomfortable questions, not about logistics, but about procedure, principle and trust. What ought to be a routine civic exercise is increasingly viewed with su...

Apr 4 , 2026

Drivers Stranded Between Parched Pumps and Policy Pipe Dream

Fuel stations across the country, especially in Addis Abeba, have become the stage for a grim new ritual. Lines of vehicles now stretch for as long as two and a half kilometres. Motorists spend ent...

Columns

Commentaries | Aug 14,2026

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

Aschalew Fetene, known as “Ardi” and admired for his poetic depth, has built a time ca...

Editorial | Aug 14 , 2026

SMALL-NOTES SQUEEZE WORN, TORN, NEVER RETURNED

For Hirut Ayalew, a small shop owner around Ferensay Legasiyon, the shortage of usable sma...

Featured | Aug 1 , 2026 . By BIZUAYEHU ABIY

Addis Abeba Builds Over Its Waterways. Now the Floods Find a Way Back

Floodwater had erased the edges of the road when Simon Nahom left Sunday school in the Jem...

Agenda | Aug 15 , 2026 . By FITSUM TADESSE

Prosecutors Charge Seven Alleging Amhara Bank's Credit Controls Bend for One Borrower

Federal prosecutors have charged seven defendants over a set of foreign-trade deals they a...

Fortune News | Aug 15 , 2026 . By NAHOM AYELE

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

In Going Digital, the State Designs for the Citizen It Wants to Have

The Rains May Fail, Policy Dare Not

Cost Recovery by Public Institutions Becomes a Hidden Tax

Editorials

Millions Looking for Work. Companies Cannot Find Many to Hire. A Paradox?

Ethiopia Needs a Peace Premium the IMF Cannot Supply

The New Gold Standard Comes with a Warning Label

The Rent Law Protects No One Well. Time to Rewrite It.

The Budget Bill Asks the Most from Citizens with the Least Slack

Logistics Reform Should Deliver More Than Market Entry by Foreign Capital

The Elections Offered Order at the Centre, Silence at the Edges

Mistaking Development Theatre for Public Trust Has a Cost

Tax Push Tests How Much Pain Taxpayers Can Bear

T-Bills Trap Begins in the Federal Government's Own Budget

Every Encounter with the State Should Not Become an Invoice

National Dialogue Has Everything But the Trust It Needs

Addis Abeba's Roads Reveal a Country Where the Powerful Drive Through the Law

Ethiopia's New Diplomacy Essence Could Be About Shielding Sovereignty

Voters' Registration Drive Risks Eroding Public Trust

Drivers Stranded Between Parched Pumps and Policy Pipe Dream

Most read

Columns

Europe Needs the Plot, Ethiopia Needs the Price

A Body Learns Itself from the Inside

Ethiopia Digitises Its Money, Not Its Factories

The Plate on the Screen Isn't the Plate on the Table

Addis Abeba Builds Over Its Waterways. Now the Floods Find a Way Back

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

Read More

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

SMALL-NOTES SQUEEZE WORN, TORN, NEVER RETURNED

Addis Abeba Builds Over Its Waterways. Now the Floods Find a Way Back

Prosecutors Charge Seven Alleging Amhara Bank's Credit Controls Bend for One Borrower

Drop us a message

COVID UPDATE

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

In Going Digital, the State Designs for the Citizen It Wants to Have

The Rains May Fail, Policy Dare Not

Cost Recovery by Public Institutions Becomes a Hidden Tax

Millions Looking for Work. Companies Cannot Find Many to Hire. A Paradox?

Ethiopia Needs a Peace Premium the IMF Cannot Supply

The New Gold Standard Comes with a Warning Label

The Rent Law Protects No One Well. Time to Rewrite It.

The Budget Bill Asks the Most from Citizens with the Least Slack

Logistics Reform Should Deliver More Than Market Entry by Foreign Capital

The Elections Offered Order at the Centre, Silence at the Edges

Mistaking Development Theatre for Public Trust Has a Cost

Tax Push Tests How Much Pain Taxpayers Can Bear

T-Bills Trap Begins in the Federal Government's Own Budget

Every Encounter with the State Should Not Become an Invoice

National Dialogue Has Everything But the Trust It Needs

Addis Abeba's Roads Reveal a Country Where the Powerful Drive Through the Law

Ethiopia's New Diplomacy Essence Could Be About Shielding Sovereignty

Voters' Registration Drive Risks Eroding Public Trust

Drivers Stranded Between Parched Pumps and Policy Pipe Dream

Europe Needs the Plot, Ethiopia Needs the Price

A Body Learns Itself from the Inside

Ethiopia Digitises Its Money, Not Its Factories

The Plate on the Screen Isn't the Plate on the Table

Addis Abeba Builds Over Its Waterways. Now the Floods Find a Way Back

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

Listen to the Poets Before Bulldozers Narrow Addis Abeba's Memory

SMALL-NOTES SQUEEZE WORN, TORN, NEVER RETURNED

Addis Abeba Builds Over Its Waterways. Now the Floods Find a Way Back

Prosecutors Charge Seven Alleging Amhara Bank's Credit Controls Bend for One Borrower

Drop us a message

COVID UPDATE

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