Ethiopia Comes to a Crossroads on Economic Reform

After a year in office, Ethiopia's ambitious Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has made considerable progress on multiple fronts by striking a peace deal with Eritrea, ousting entrenched elites, reforming the security sector and opening up the political system. But after promising to open up several key economic sectors, foreign investors are eager to see more progress. Nevertheless, Abiy and his allies are taking a careful approach to easing state control over key sectors as part of a larger bid to move the economy away from state-controlled growth to one of private sector-led growth. But while many in Ethiopia have hailed the developmental state model as an overall economic success, it has not come without its costs. For starters, government spending has kept inflation rates high. At the same time, authorities have effectively turned domestic lenders into piggy banks by obliging them to contribute portions of their deposits to the Development Bank...