Ethiopia’s new prime minister said that a foreign exchange shortage will last for years and more cooperation with the private sector is essential to solve it, state television reported. Abiy Ahmed, who was sworn in on April 2, addressed the local business community Monday at a session of more than two hours in a hotel in the Ethiopian capital, Reuters reported. “The crisis with hard currency will not be solved today, nor in the next 15 or 20 years. There is an urgent need for more cooperation with the private sector to find a solution,” Abiy was reported as saying, adding that remittances from Ethiopia’s diaspora communities had also fallen for political reasons. Ethiopia has recorded average annual economic growth of about 10% for the past decade, the fastest in Africa. But foreign investors and local businesses complain that the severe hard currency shortages are stifling the private sector.
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