Ethiopia’s homegrown economic reforms face challenges
Subject Outlook for Ethiopia's economic reform agenda. Significance The government has launched a “Homegrown Economic Reform” agenda, which aims to transform Ethiopia from a largely agrarian low-income country to an industrialised lower-middle-income country by 2030. This will require the private sector to take charge of growth amid waning public sector financing capacity. However, significant economic liberalisation within this timeframe is unrealistic given the entrenched nature of the old command economy. Impacts Ethiopia has overtaken Angola as Sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy but slowing growth could threaten this new status. The large external debt burden and high import content of the new agenda will curb plans to liberalise the exchange rate. Ethio Telecom and Ethiopian Airlines will be the crown jewels among proposed privatisation offerings.