The Rise of A Shadow Government

State capture refers to systematic high level political corruption that establishes a hidden political regime at odds with the constitutional purpose of the state, by capturing politicians and parties, journalists and the media, the police as well as key state institutions such as the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and regulatory agencies in order to protect and to benefit its own private interests. Although state capture is a concept that has received extensive attention principally in the post-communist states of Eastern Europe and Latin America, it has also found its way into Africa’s political discourse in recent years. In fact, the influence of state captors is growing in developing countries. Ethiopia is no exception, as evidenced by the mismanagement of massive mega projects and numerous corruption scandals as well as political persecution, especially in recent years. EBR’s Samson Hailu investigates the extent of the phenomenon in Ethiopia.

At the end of the just ended fiscal year, Ethiopia’s parliament approved ETB320 billion budget for 2017/18 fiscal year. The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) also planned to collect ETB199 billion in the year, 62Pct of the approved budget. The tax collection in the preceding year was ETB160 billion. The Authority has been working to increase the tax-to-gross domestic-product (GDP) ratio from 13Pct currently to 17Pct in 2020.
However, the recent effort to increase tax collection, thereby improve the tax-to-GDP ratio, by collecting more taxes ended up being controversial. Tax payers repeatedly voice their frustrations in high sales assessment which implies exaggerated tax amount to be required. Experts also challenge the way the government tries to boost domestic resource mobilisation because efforts to create an enabling business climate for small and informal businesses to go formal and contribute more to the national development endeavour remains minimum. EBR’s Samson Hailu explores the issue to offer this report.

Small scale farming holds a dominant role in Ethiopian Agriculture. Though productivity is still low, it employs almost 85Pct of the population, produce for consumption, export and industrial raw materials. That’s why; transforming the sector has been a priority for the government.
The annual production by small-scale farmers during the main harvesting season increased from 171 million quintals to 290.4 million quintals within the last ten years, showing a 70Pct increment.
However, with the surging population and looming climate change, experts stress that smallholder farmers cannot continue feeding themselves and the rest of the population and be engines for economic growth in the long run. Experts recommend that enough attention should be given to large scale farming. EBR’s Samson Hailu explores the saga behind small scale farming to offer this report.

A Pressing Issue for the New AU Executives

The 28th African Union (AU) Summit on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth was attended by heads of State and Governments in late January 2017.
A key issue for discussion, however, was the election of the new leadership for the AU Commission. More now than ever, the Commission aspires to deepen continental integration. This is a cornerstone for the creation of a prosperous Africa, envisioned under Agenda 2063, which is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent. The Agenda seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for trade and economic integration as well as growth and sustainable development. EBR’s Samson Hailu explores the level of intra-Africa trade and analyses what the role of the newly elected AU executives may take in contributing to the creation of a prosperous Africa.

A country’s broad money supply refers to money in its various forms – be it notes, coins, currency deposits or even credit from banks. When the supply is increased, it can have beneficial or disastrous effects, from spurring economic growth to increasing inflation to astronomical levels, which has a deleterious impact on quality of life, especially in developing countries. As Ethiopia aims to continue its path of double-digit economic growth, EBR’s Samson Hailu spoke with economists and government officials to learn more about the debates surrounding broad money supply and where it fits in to the country’s overall development aims.