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Mar 30 , 2025

Media Council's Edging to Accreditation a Deceitful Drift

When the private satellite channel, Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS), aired an emotional interview last week featuring a young woman's allegations of sexual assault, it inadvertently sparked a political firestorm. Rather than encouraging meaningful discussion around sexual violence, a persistent...

Mar 23 , 2025

Preventing War Far Cheaper Than Paying Its Deadly Price

Getachew Redda, head of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration (TIRA), at least up until last week, is no ordinary politician. Witty, articulate, and boldly confrontational, he seldom hesitates to criticise his political rivals within the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Known for his liberal persuasion, he has always been an odd fit within the traditionally left-leaning TPLF leadership. Yet, despite his intellect and charisma, his tenure at the helm of TIRA has been all but free from troubles and contentions. During a recent press conference at the Sheraton Addis, far from h...


Mar 16 , 2025

A Country Governed by Guesswork, While Millions Lost in the Shadows

Ask anyone about the population of Addis Abeba, and a straightforward answer proves elusive. Wikipedia claims the city's population reached 5.7 million this year. Worldpopulationreview.com, however, puts the figure at nearly six million. The UN's Human Settlements Program, or UN-Habitat, estimates it at four million, quite below the Addis Abeba City Administration's projection, which surpasses five million. Even this official figure is far from accurate, resulting from annual projections made for almost two decades now. Such discrepancies underline Ethiopia's deeper statistical crisis, whic...


Mar 9 , 2025

The GMO Experiment Can Be Harvest of Hope, Not Seed of Trouble

Five years ago, 11 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), together with 40 allies across Africa, demanded a five-year moratorium on Ethiopia's use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). They wanted clear regulations and “proper” public consultations. Their appeal did not materialise. Recently, the federal government granted commercial approval for genetically modified maise and cotton, marking a landmark shift in policy and igniting debate over how best to reconcile new technology with realities on the ground. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had opposed GMOs, but under his succe...

Editorials

Mar 2 , 2025

Mismanaged, Trade Liberalisation Could Pour Cold Water on Local Hopes

The domestic economy has endured a punishing half-decade. A global pandemic throttled trade, a civil war inflicted grave damage to livelihoods and external financing, and persistent unrest in two of i...

Feb 23 , 2025

Africa Wants to Mark Own Homework with Homegrown Credit Agency

Africa is a place where the frustrations of its elites run high due to what they feel are external yardsticks distorting the continental potential. Ironically, successive generations of leaders have l...

Feb 16 , 2025

IMF Tells Ethiopia to Stay the Course, with Leap of Faith on the Market

Madame Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), recently became the third IMF chief to set foot in Addis Abeba in over 30 years. Her arrival showed Ethiopia's...

Feb 9 , 2025

The Race to the AUC Follows Mahamat's Grand Entrances, Quiet Exits Legacy

This week, the African Union's (AU) annual summit in Addis Abeba is set to be more than a routine exercise of convention by heads of states. The continent is beset by increasingly intricate conflicts...

Feb 1 , 2025

Addis Abeba's Costly Pursuit of Prosperity Bulldozes Dreams on Bargain Prices

Urban renewal is seldom gentle to those on the receiving end of redevelopment. Take several neighbourhoods of Addis Abeba where bustling life once thrived. Silence now reigns on them, bar the bulldoze...

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, wh...

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 describ...

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...

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...

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 b...

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...


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Editorial | Mar 30, 2025

Media Council's Edging to Accreditation a Deceitful Drift


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Media Council's Edging to Accreditation a Deceitful Drift

When the private satellite channel, Ethiopian Broadcasting Service (EBS), aired an emotion...

Editorial | Mar 30 , 2025

Trapped Between Sunlight, Soaring Costs, Farmers Struggle to Ditch Diesel

Fenta Atele gazes at the shrinking shores of Lake Abaya, in Southern Regional State, worry...

Featured | Mar 16 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

CHASED FOR A LIVING

At dusk, Haile Garment Square in the southern outskirts of Addis Abeba transforms from a q...

Agenda | Mar 30 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

Barley Supply Chains Sway Under Regional Strains

The brewing industry faces a storm, with barley shortages leading to a substantial spike i...

Fortune News | Mar 30 , 2025