ETHIOPIA: IMF Managing Director in Addis & more – 13th Feb 2025

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 13th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Let’s start this episode with updates on the visit of Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (or IMF). This is her first visit to Ethiopia since twenty eighteen. She met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Minister of Finance and the National Bank’s governor, among other top officials.

In a press conference on Sunday the 9th, she expressed her support for the government’s ongoing economic reform, urging the public to get behind the executive’s efforts and unite to see the plan materialize. She added that although the process will be tough, the reform initiative will bring about very favorable results.

She said inflation has seen a downturn and the country has exported more, but at the same time she said that more improvements are required to keep reducing the inflation rate. She also said that the debt restructuring with G20 countries is in its final stages, buying Ethiopia time to pay back creditors.

At the same press conference, the IMF also revealed that the Ethiopian government has agreed to grant significant autonomy to the National Bank. The IMF asked the government to pass laws prohibiting any sitting minister from being a member of the Bank’s board and to implement a double veto procedure, ensuring a transparent voting process for the Bank’s governor and deputy governor.

However, the executive initially refused to incorporate the IMF’s requests in the new National Bank bill, saying this degree of autonomy to government entities is unprecedented and is not in keeping with the country’s legal traditions. The IMF didn’t accept these reasons as sufficient and after Kristalina’s visit, she said authorities have agreed to grant more autonomy to the National Bank. This is important because it will bring stats and reasonable decisions to the front seat instead of political compromises.

The Federal Auditor General audited the Investment Commission and reported major shortcomings, which riled members of parliament. At a hearing on Wednesday the 5th MPs grilled the commissioner.

A year ago, The Commission was granted ten months to come up with an action plan but only submitted it a month ago. The Deputy Auditor General revealed that since two thousand seven the Commission granted more than eighteen thousand investment permits but about half have been revoked because investors weren’t carrying out projects. The MPs had said the Commission should encourage these investors to continue with these projects instead of revoking their license.

On top of that, the Auditor General said only a fourth of all projects with investment permits are currently active. Also, the MPs as well as the Auditor General pointed out that the Commission wrongfully issued work permits and did not monitor foreigners staying in the country beyond the expiry date of their work permits.

More concerning than this is the issue of Addis Ababa residents since their homes have been expropriated because of the infamous Corridor Development Project, a city beautification project from the Prime Minister’s Office. Over four hundred and fifty households in the city’s Bole Sub-City, District 13, have had their homes demolished and, despite cooperating with authorities, they said they haven’t received replacement lands or compensation, so they’ve become homeless.

These households have petitioned the parliament, the Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission for a solution. Authorities have told media outlets that the complainants may have been living on land that was unlawfully appropriated (that is, they were squatters) and that was why the government didn’t provide homes or compensation. The complainants, however, said they’ve been living there for over thirty years.

The African Union Summit is being held in the capital with the Union’s 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council held on Wednesday the 12th and Thursday the 13th. The main event, however, will be held throughout the weekend with heads of state and governments of member states convening in Addis for the annual assembly.

Aside from leaders of member states, various dignitaries are in Addis for the event. One of them is Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General. He arrived on Thursday the 13th and the Deputy PM welcomed him. In addition to attending the event, the Secretary-General is expected to hold talks with top government officials of member states.

During the Session, Ethiopia was voted in as a member of the Union’s Peace and Security Council.

On the sidelines of the 46th Session, Gideon Timotewos, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, sat down with his counterparts from Tunisia and Morocco. With his Tunisian counterpart, he agreed on the importance of strengthening the relations of the two countries. The more comprehensive discussion was with Nassir Borita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. The two talked about various fields of cooperation including trade, investment, tourism, energy and education.

In business news, the Ethiopian Communications Authority said the Ethiopian telecom market will see a new player late this year or in early twenty twenty-six. If a new company enters the telecom market, it will be the third operator in the country, the other two being Ethio Telecom and Safaricom.

Recall that the government wanted a third entrant to set up shop three years ago but didn’t receive the bids it wanted from interested foreign companies, forcing the executive to end the process of issuing the third license over a year ago.

However, the reported success of Safaricom has prompted the government to believe that there may be an interest spike soon in Ethiopia’s telecom market. Names of interested companies haven’t been thrown around yet but in October last year, the CEO of the country’s sovereign wealth fund expressed the executive’s aim to welcome a third operator.

Japan announced that it would grant 15 million dollars to UN agencies to aid Ethiopia. The UN said it will use this fund to address urgent humanitarian needs and contribute to sustainable development. About half the funds will be used for humanitarian response and will be disbursed through various UN organizations, including the World Health Organization and the UN Development Program. The other half will be used to tackle social and economic challenges including infrastructure development and women empowerment by funding various projects.

Japan’s aid package came at a crucial time since the US, which used to provide humanitarian aid through its Agency for International Development, or USAID has suspended assistance programs following President Trump’s stop-work order. People with HIV/AIDS and other diseases are no longer able to receive treatment due to this development. The suspension also left Health and social workers out of jobs.

Back to local news for our final update as the National Intelligence and Security Service announced that it has begun taking measures against people operating drones in and around Addis without obtaining approval. The Service reiterated that flying drones without prior approval is not allowed in Addis Ababa and its surroundings. Those interested in flying drones in the area must get in touch with the Service and obtain permits.

The Service said it has been using anti-drone tech to identify people who have attempted to fly drones without permits. It added that monitoring is especially essential at this moment as Addis is hosting the African Union Summit.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

A huge thank you to all our listeners who tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms—especially those who help spread the word by sharing the show with friends and family! If you’d like to send an episode as an MP3 file, you can download it directly from our website at https://rorshok.com/ethiopia/. The link is also available in the show notes. Thank you!

Ciao!