Ethiopia continues to mesmerize the world in its effort to building a government committed and dedicated to public allegiance. Ever since the recent reform which laid its foundation a year or so, the country has continued to grab the attention of the international community.
Since the new government assumed power, Ethiopia has succeeded in introducing political reforms, but significant challenges remain. The international community has also witnessed that the country is on the right truck undergoing such a genuine democratic transition that can be taken as a great lesson for the rest of Africa and despotic governments across the globe.
Abiy’s government has announced shake-ups across industries, including plans to open up the once closely guarded telecommunications and power monopolies.
Ethiopia is on the verge to open key economic sector through involving the private sector to engage in government control of the economy by opening its logistics sector to foreign finance and finalizing reforms in its underdeveloped mining and oil sectors to encourage more foreign investors.
Indeed, a wave of economic reforms in Ethiopia since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to office nearly a year ago has sparked hope among businesses struggling to grow under the East African nation’s regulated economy.
The international community has not limited itself by appreciating the change observed in the country; it rather stood by the side of the government and encouraged the reform by providing technical and financial support to the country. Not far, the World Bank, for instance, is financing more than 13 billion Birr development projects in Ethiopia and pledged to continue its assistance for the country.
Even more recently, the rapprochement with the international community such as the International Development Association (IDA) rewarded Ethiopia by making her a host to the second replenishment meeting in Addis Ababa.
The second IDA replenishment meeting provides an opportunity to further discuss issues related to the association and seeks partners’ guidance on policy and financing options. President Sahle-Work Zewde commended IDA, a member of the World Bank Group, for its life-changing assistance to Ethiopia.
Since the drastic change that has flourished in the country, the international community like the IDA are taking their parts to improve education, health, social protection, gender equality, good governance, development of industrial parks, and infrastructure and job creation in Ethiopia.
IDA provided not less than five billion USD for the development needs of Ethiopia in the form of grant and credit in 2017/18 and 2018/19 fiscal year. The assembling of the meeting held in Ethiopia by itself is a reward for Ethiopia’s effective use of IDA’s financial support and reinforcement for the reforms. The three-day meeting targeted to raising 80 billion USD, out of which the majority will be channeled to the Horn and Sub-Saharan Africa regions.
The assistance is encouraging to sustain the reform and up the economic progress. If Ethiopia has a long way to go to make poverty reduction strategy success, IDA resources would be helpful in realizing the development objectives that the country has been pursuing for years. The support is timely in that it will further reinforce the progress the country has been making since the introduction of the reform.
The Ethiopian Herald, June 20/2019
BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
