In the good old days, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ethiopia played a significant role, at least when natural and man-made disasters affected lives. They were regarded as development partners of the government following the ousting of the military government. One should also note that this honeymoon was almost following the publication of the internationally controversial book of the celebrated journalist and historical analyst Graham Hancock, ‘Lords of Poverty’ in 1989.

In my commentary published on EBR last month I showed that the experiences of many countries indicate privatization does not automatically improve performance; the 1998 scandal involving the Uganda Commercial Bank is a case in point. Moreover, the World Bank’s experience of financial reform in the former Soviet Union drew the conclusion that early privatization does little to improve the quality of the banking system and may be counterproductive when institutions are weak and prudential regulation is underdeveloped. Therefore, it is by no means self- evident that Ethiopia should follow Mozambique’s example of privatizing state banks early in the transition stage.

Escalating trade tensions are taking a toll on the global economy and are partly responsible for the recent downward revisions to our growth forecasts for 2019/20.
Facing sluggish growth and below-target inflation, many advanced and emerging market economies have appropriately eased monetary policy, yet this has prompted concerns over so-called beggar-thy-neighbor policies and fears of a currency war.

Unlike the 2008 global financial crisis, which was mostly a large negative aggregate demand shock, the next recession is likely to be caused by permanent negative supply shocks from the Sino-American trade and technology war. Trying to undo the damage through never-ending monetary and fiscal stimulus will not be an option argues Nouriel Roubini (PhD), in a commentary sent to EBR from Project Syndicate.