The current democratic movement that has engulfed Ethiopia must be supported by economic reforms and democratic system. The two are intimately connected: you can’t have one without the others. Democracy is the best form of government for economic progress. But if the economy is not improving, the flag-bearers of democracy among the populace will make U- Turn. The Ethiopian youth do not “eat democracy”; at the end of the day they need jobs, income, food and housing for themselves and their dependants.

The recent coordinated move by the Biden-led US government and its Western allies against the Ethiopian people has proven, once again, how far they will go in their attempts to restore their fading global hegemony.
It is no surprise that Ethiopia, a sovereign nation with a history of independence and resistance to colonial authority, is considered a threat to the status of the Western block.

Ethiopia has always been a strong symbol of African liberation and freedom. Because of this status, the West and other global powers believe that leaving Ethiopia’s power unchecked sets a dangerous precedence for the rest of Africa and black people everywhere.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), launched on January 1, 2021 has been hailed as a “game changer.” By bringing together 55 countries – with a total population of 1.3 billion and a combined GDP of USD3.4 trillion – in a single market, many believe AfCFTA could fuel Africa’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, spur structural transformation, and drive rapid industrialization. The World Bank estimates that trade integration could raise Africa’s income by 7Pct by 2035, lifting 30 million people out of extreme poverty.
Those are lofty expectations. Unfortunately, lowering trade barriers alone will not enable Africa to fulfil them.

One of the major issues in international hydro-politics is the utilization of transboundary rivers. Although there are existing theories on the use of these bodies of water, they were not universally used in a uniform way. Accordingly, some countries are trying to protect their interests by distorting the meaning of terminologies in these theories.

In other words, in the utilization of transboundary rivers, the upper riparians may consider only their national interest while the lower riparians, on the other hand, exert their utmost effort to keep their interest. To this end, the lower riparians may use amicable negotiation (soft diplomacy) or may wage war (hard diplomacy) against the upper riparian countries.

China is having an eventful month, marked by proliferating power-supply disruptions and the debt crisis of the country’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande. What does this mean for China’s post-pandemic economic recovery and growth prospects?

Begin with the energy crisis, which started when a rapid increase in exports – driven by the global recovery – fueled a sharp increase in demand for electricity. China remains dependent on coal for 56.8Pct of its total electricity supply. And yet, in an effort to meet mandatory targets for reducing energy consumption, local governments have shut down many coal mines in recent years.

Globalization and free trade have now become the axiom of countries worldwide. This is because western countries and institutions that promote globalization and free trade, like the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have been promoting and pushing the idea relentlessly ever since the end of World War II.

Especially after the 1980s, the notion that globalization is inevitable and free trade benefits everyone has been elevated to high status to become the major global economic philosophy.

In the period leading up to the 2008 global financial crisis, a few prescient voices warned of potentially catastrophic systemic instability. In a famous 2005 speech, Raghuram G. Rajan explicitly cautioned that although structural and technological changes meant that the financial system was theoretically diversifying risk better than ever before, it might in practice be concentrating risk. At the time, Rajan was mocked; former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers was not alone in thinking him a “Luddite.”

The Need to Take Necessary Precautions to Avoid Regret. (Part II)

In the first part of this article, I illustrated some of the national economic and political hardship that can follow financial sector liberalization with empirical evidence from Argentina and Turkey. In this and final part, I shall present two success stories related to financial liberalization: Ghana and China. I will also suggest what Ethiopia should do to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of its seemingly inevitable liberalization of finance.