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Ethiopia Faces a New Crisis

Bloomberg | First there was a war, now Ethiopia faces a debt crisis. The nation’s request to restructure its external debt under a Group-of-20 program highlights how much circumstances have changed for the country and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in just over a year. In 2019, Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending two decades of […]

Ethiopia asks for debt relief as Covid takes toll

Financial Times | Pandemic adds to pressure on developing economies trying to meet repayments Ethiopia has asked for debt relief under a G20 programme to help poor countries reeling under the economic impact of coronavirus, making it the second African country to do so in the past week. Ethiopia has long been seen as one […]

Ethiopia updates debt sustainability assessment with IMF help

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Ethiopia is updating its debt sustainability assessment with International Monetary Fund help and will then talk to official creditors, its finance ministry said in an apparent attempt to allay market concerns over a possible restructuring of sovereign debt. On Friday, a Finance Ministry official told Reuters that Ethiopia planned to seek a […]

Chinese ambassador, Ethiopia capital mayor agree to enhance economic partnership

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan and Mayor of Ethiopia’s capital city Adanech Abiebie agreed on Friday to enhance the economic partnership between the two countries. In a press statement, Abiebie said she has reached an agreement with the Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia on the need to add new […]

Exclusive: Ethiopia to seek debt relief under G20 debt framework – ministry

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Ethiopia plans to seek a restructuring of its sovereign debt under a new G20 common framework and is looking at all the available options, the country’s finance ministry told Reuters on Friday. Ethiopia’s government bonds saw their biggest ever daily fall on the news and analysts said restructuring concerns could spill over […]

Ethiopia’s privatization program threatened by security risks

(Ecofin Agency) – Ethiopia’s initiative to privatize public companies could be hampered by security risks. “In recent months, the conflict between Ethiopia’s central government and the leaders of the Tigray region has dominated the news. Although federal government troops have regained control of Tigray, the conflict illustrates potentially serious flaws in Ethiopia’s federal system,” the […]

Ethnic conflict could unravel Ethiopia’s valuable garment industry

Source: The Conversation | Dorothee Baumann-Pauly Ethiopia has long been considered one of Africa’s economic wunderkinds. Until recently, it had relative political stability in comparison to other countries on the continent. And, with an average GDP growth rate of 10% in the past decade and a government that instituted policies friendly to foreign investors, the country was able to […]

Mysterious Wheat Deals Complicate Hunger Fight in Ethiopia

Source: Bloomberg | Samuel Gebre, Agnieszka de Sousa and Simon Marks Nation scrapped import tenders for grain after no progress Ethiopia is seeking outside assistance to help feed its people Back in November, Ethiopia unveiled two deals to buy deeply discounted wheat from suppliers that seasoned traders had never heard of. A website named for one […]

Ethiopia is set to end its $3.6 billion oil deal with a controversial US firm after probe

Source: Quartz Africa | By Zecharias Zelalm Senior officials at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum say the government is set to rescind an agreement with a US-based self-described energy firm after an investigation by Quartz Africa revealed the company had no petroleum industry expertise or technical credentials. “We are in the process of canceling our agreement with the company,” […]

US businessmen are close to exploiting Ethiopia’s oil plans in a multibillion-dollar scheme

Source: Quartz Africa | By Zecharias Zelalm An Ethiopian-American investor and his partners are on the brink of pulling off an elaborate scheme that may unfairly take advantage of Ethiopia’s long-held ambitions to build its own oil & gas industry and become energy independent. Nebiyu Getachew, 48, chief executive of GreenComm Technologies, a Virginia-based energy […]