Africa: Ethiopia takes a different path

The government insists that its banking sector will remain closed to external investment. But can the country’s economy thrive without better access to international credit?

Ethiopia light railway-R-600


A man walks beside the electrified light railway track in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s banking sector will not be open to international investment for at least five years,” according to Abraham Tekeste Meskel, state minister, ministry of finance and economic development in Ethiopia. He made this declaration at a summit in Addis Ababa in October hosted by The Economist. 

Yet Meskel’s statement did not stop delegates posing the same question about the country’s banking sector throughout the conference.

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