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Yonas Biru, PhD
Two days ago, I wrote an article objecting Mamo Mihretu’s appointment as the governor of the Central Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) under the title “Why the Parliament Must Reject Mamo Mihretu’s Appointment as the Governor of the CBE.” I have since learned that his appointment is not subject to confirmation by the parliament. Evidently, it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to appoint anyone at his discretion.
This follow-up is triggered by a spirited cacophonic mix of dust and gas that critics of my article raised in the twitter and other social media stratosphere. The purpose of this follow up is to shade more light on where my concern emanates from. It is also to provide some pointers on the way forward.
As my previous article noted, Mamo has an impressive background. By any standard he is an accomplished professional. In the interest of full disclosure, I had a relatively close contact with him by phone and email in 2019 and 2020. My impression is that he is amongst the most promising leaders of the next generation.
My concerns were three – all related to the PM’s modus operandi in appointing senior officials in his administration. First, Mamo is in the close circle of the PM’s management team. He is a member of the Parliament, representing the governing party. The governor of the central bank should be independent. This is critical for the wellbeing of the economy.
Second, I believe it is unfair to Mamo to be appointed in such a position when his service is needed in other equally critical positions that best fit his educational and experience pedigrees. Best fit needs to be the primary appointment criteria, not “he is very smart and a quick learn” and therefore he will do fine and maybe even perform phenomenally. Fine is not good enough and “maybe even phenomenally” is not a sure bet when he can be better situated to do a phenomenal job in his area of expertise.
Third, less than a year ago, Mamo was appointed to serve as the head of the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. This was a humongous new institution for the nation and Mamo was relatively new to the area. He and his team were going through a steep learning curve to build such an institution from the ground up. It made absolutely no sense to remove him at the institution’s early stage of formation, considering his educational and professional pedigrees do not make him a best fit for the CBE position that the PM tapped him for.
Now, since he is the governor and the decision is outside of the purview and oversight of the Parliament, I can only hope the best for him. I hope that he will see the wisdom in establishing an advisory board, consisting of subject matter experts in macroeconomics, banking, and finance. The following people fit the bill for such a high-level advisory panel.
- Lemma Wolde Senbet – The William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Maryland (diaspora).
- Alemayehu Geda – Research Professor at Addis Abeba University; University of London, SOAS (UK) with expertise in macroeconomics and international economics (local).
- Abraham Mulugetta – Charles A. Dana Professor of Finance and International Business at Ithaca College (diaspora).
- Abu Girma Moges – Associate Professor of Economics at University of Tsukuba. University of TsukubaUniversity of Tsukuba, Japan (diaspora).
- Tamrat Gashaw – Lecturer at Columbia University, where he teaches financial economics. His research focuses on international trade and finance, monetary economics, and applied econometrics (diaspora).
- Menilik Geremew – Assistant Professor of Money & Banking at Kalamazoo College and a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (diaspora).
- Dawit Senbet – Professor of Economics at University of Northern Colorado. His area of expertise are Macro and Monetary Economics (diaspora).
- Helaway Tadesse – Director of Research and Analytics, Cepheus Growth Capital Partners (local).
I have not consulted any of these experts if they have time and/or interest to serve in an advisory capacity. I am naming them to show the kind of expertise the country can benefit from.
Beyond Mamo’s Appointment
I believe it is wrong to look at Mamo’s appointment in isolation. His ability as individual and his impressive educational and professional pedigree will undermine the legitimate case for concern in his appointment.
The Ethiopian economy is in shambles and the time needs concerted efforts of professionals. See my article titled “The Accidental Rise and Foreseeable Fall of Abiy Ahmed in the World of Two Shenes.” My bleak overview of the economy in the article was not too far from what the immediate past governor of CBE reported to the national parliament, as published in the Ethiopian Insider.
The calamitous state of the economy is attributable to three factors: (1) the war, (2) poor economic policy and even poorer implementation plan, and (3) a significant drop in international aid.
There are many reasons behind the first two factors. First is a nearly 30 years of polarized tribal politics fueled by an elite class that has taken refuge in tribal deity and vowed not to be governed by reason or law.
There is also an utter poor management of the reform process. The bureaucracy particularly in the ministers of finance and economic commission are filled with people who lack the requisite experience and skills necessary to lead the country during a time of crisis.
The problem is not limited at senior management level. The breakdown of the bureaucracy is manifested at every level. An organized corruption within the dysfunctional bureaucracy has resulted in driving the nation’s exportable products into the black market. The 59 percent drop in the nation’s gold export without any accountability in the ministry of mining screams for an emergency action and course correction.
The drop in the volume of gold export is measurable and corrective action can be taken. What is dangerous is what is not measurable that is eroding the bureaucratic culture and trust in the leadership. Such an erosion has long-term consequences of a calamitous proportion.
The crisis is further exacerbated by poor international public diplomacy that has led to a significant drop in international aid. The culture of the PM’s administration is characterized by constantly accusing everyone in sight and out of sight, rather than taking corrective actions. The PM has become a maestro of a complaint symphony. He often accuses his own appointees of blatant corruption and yet takes no accountability or corrective action. He has also made a hobby out of using the international community as the source of all evils afflicting Ethiopia and yet still relies on them to bailout his failing economy.
The Prime Minster is best advised to take responsibility for his failed policy and act to alleviate the nation’s economic and political ills. This must start with appointing the right people for the right position. For example, he cannot expect positive results after appointing an excellent water engineer as an ambassador to the most important diplomatic post and giving the top national engineering post to a lifelong ambassador. But this is exactly what he is doing. Mamo’s appointment as the governor of CBE becomes worrying only when we see it from this incomprehensible, if not outright reckless, modus operandi.
Ethiopia is a resource poor nation. The nation’s economic woes are beyond its natural resource endowments. One extractable resource that the nation has is its educated and experienced taskforce both at home and in the diaspora. Using its intellectual and expert base to its best and fullest potential is a critical first step. This requires reining in the Prime Ministers I know-it-all and can-do-it-alone governance style.
The second most critical step is to mobilize international resources. There are three scenarios for this, considering Ethiopia’s strategic importance in the world’s geo-political landscape.
One scenario is what we are experiencing currently. The international community is funding Ethiopia just enough to avoid economic catastrophe, holding back further aid as a leverage to influence the peace process.
The second scenario is the level of support Ethiopia enjoyed between 2018 and 2020, when the international community provided it with unprecedented level of financial aid. In December 2019, Ethiopia received a $9 billion injection of financial aid from Western donors. Four months later the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) committed a $5 billion investment plan for Ethiopia. On top of this, between 2018 and 2020, Ethiopia received $3.13 billion in foreign aid from the US alone. During the three years period Ethiopia was the highest US aid recipient in Africa and the second in the world, next to Afghanistan.
As unprecedented as this level of aid may have been, it was not enough to pull Ethiopia out of the economic abyss it is stuck in. The most it can do is filling prevailing gaps and sustaining the economy at its level. See my article in Addis Fortune titled “Nine Billion: Generous but Woefully Inadequate.”
The third scenario is Ethiopia’s unrealized international opportunity. With the right set of strategy and policy, international aid could be a low hanging fruit. International aid is guided as much by perception as it is by reality. One determining factor that donor nations use in allocating aid is the recipient nation’s absorptive capacity. The question they often ask is: Are the leaders and the nation’s bureaucratic base capable of absorbing and administering large international aid packages.
To pull itself out of the protracted underdevelopment curse and perpetual poverty, Ethiopia needs in the order of $40 billion to $50 billion influx of international investment annually both in the form of aid and foreign direct investment (FDI).
This is not an insurmountable amount, considering the nation’s strategic importance in the world’s geopolitical and geo-economic landscape. If any country in Africa can make the case for a Marshall Plan, Ethiopia would be top on the list. See “Marshall Plan for Africa – the Strategic Imperative for the West” and “US should adopt a Marshall Plan for Ethiopia.”
The question is: Has the PM won the trust and confidence of the international community? Is his senior management team up to task to absorb and manage tens of billions of dollars in the form of international aid per annum?
Given the current bureaucratic dysfunction and unprecedented corruption, the answer is a resounding “NO.” This has proven to be the case since the war started. The PM’s administration has failed in every critical area of first importance.
Ethiopia must follow the path of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore to use its strategic importance in geopolitical and geo-economic landscapes to spur its development. The Prime Minister still has an opportunity to act. This requires bold economic agenda and a robust geopolitical strategy that is commensurate with the nation’s geostrategic importance.
The lack of a robust geopolitical strategy and bold economic vision reflects lack of capacity in the Prime Minister’s administration. In this regard, it is hard to overstate the fact that the Prime Minister’s finance, economics, and foreign affairs teams leave much to be desired. Just to bring the point home, let us see the profiles of numerous ministers of finance from Africa.
Nigeria: When Nigeria was in financial and economic crisis, its president searched for the best Nigerian economist in the world that met two criteria: knowledge and global reputation. Global reputation was critical to win the confidence of the international community. They found Negozi Okonjo-Iweala. A Harvard PhD in economics, a high-level official at the World Bank. She is currently the Head of World Trade Organization. Before that she was a runner up for the World Bank President position.
Ghana: Ken Ofori-Atta brings to the Ministry over 30 years’ experience in Ghanaian and international financial sector. Prior to joining the government, he was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers on Wall Street in New York. He was the first African to be honored as a Donaldson Fellow at Yale University and a John Jay Fellow at Columbia University. He holds a BA in Economics from Columbia University in New York and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Both are international coveted US Ivy League universities.
Zimbabwe: Mthuli Ncube was chief economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank. He holds a PhD in Mathematical Finance from Cambridge University. Before joining the African Development Bank, he was dean and professor of finance at Wits Business School and then dean of the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) as well as a lecturer in finance at the London School of Economics.
Sudan: Ibrahim Elbadawi was the Minister of Finance during the transition period. Before he assumed his post as Minister of Finance, he was Director at the Economic Policy & Research Center, the Dubai Economic Council, Lead Economist at the World Bank, and Director of the African Economic Research Consortium. He has edited 13 books and special editions of referred journal and published about 90 articles on macroeconomics, growth, and development policy. He holds a PhD in economics from North Carolina State and Northwestern universities in the USA.
One can also look at central bank governors of other African nations. Let us take just one example – the current governor of the Kenyan Central Bank. Patrick Ngugi Njoroge holds a PhD in economics from Yale University. Following his PhD studies, he worked as an economist at the Kenyan Ministry of Finance. He later joined the IMF where he started as an economist and grew through the ranks to mission chief for Dominica and deputy division chief of the IMF Finance Department, and finally as an advisor to the deputy managing director of the IMF. It is with such a record he was appointed as the governor of the Central Bank.
We can also compare Ethiopia’s 30 years old Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) with her African counterparts. She is a civil engineer. She had no background in international finance or international relations when the PM appointed her as a commissioner. The Minister of Innovation and Technology is a newly minted PhD holder in philosophy with no experience in innovation and technology. One can rattle similar examples ad infinitum. All these may be capable in their areas of studies or fields related to their experience.
What is even more telling of the PM’s official selection process a video clip involving the current minister of defense and the speaker of the Council of Federation, and one other person. The video clip shows how the PM told them long ago that he would one day be the PM of Ethiopia and the position he will give them when that happens.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the PM has downgraded and dumbed down the bureaucracy by appointing the wrong people for the wrong positions in critical areas.
My article about Mamo’s appointment must be seen from this perspective. If he is appointed for the right position he can easily become among the best in Africa in his area of expertise. By appointing him where his skills are not best fit for the position it is not only the nation that is harmed, but also the appointee who is short-changed as a professional.
The problem is that this is not an exception, but the prevailing rule in the Prime Minister’s governance. Someone of Mamo’s caliber is likely to rise to the occasion and perform reasonably well with time. But not every official is of his caliber. Therefore, on balance the bureaucracy is in a downward trajectory. Aside from the calamitous economic situation, the nation’s disastrous record in foreign affairs is directly linked to this problem.
The time to take corrective action is short. Every day that passes without taking corrective action is getting the nation closer to the D-day. The melodious “ሸብ እረብ አለች ምድር አብይ ኢትዮጵያን ሲድር” twitter community should take a breath and try to see the big picture rather than performing የምንጃር አስክስታ and clouding the twitter stratosphere with ነጭ አቧራ and yellowish ጥቁር gas. Ethiopia does not need cheerleaders of a ሸብ እረብ genre as she progressively slips into a catastrophic economic and political abyss.
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In other words, you were right all along. And everybody else was wrong. What you really need learning is basic decency.
Excellent article since it shows the existed deeply rooted problems in our Economy. The article depicted the amendment that should be taken to bring a solution. If the PM of takes a lesson positively, he will saved himself from doing more wrong measures in economy and politics. I thanks the author for his an reserved effort for sharing his professional wisdom for the nation.
“I have since learned that his appointment is not subject to confirmation by the parliament”.
Now, that explains everything about you: You speak or write without having the correct knowledge. You call the comments of your critics cacophony. I call your essays verbal diarrhea. Get a good rest, sir!
Over to you team moron I mean nomore
Rehtoric and overt distance traveled to redress Mamo Mihretu aside, the pointed issues raised are all true and relevant.
It’s that human weakness of not bring able to admit mistake & having the fortitude to correct course that brings nations & governments down. Hope Abiy opens up & digests good advices coming from different sources.
Rehtoric and overt distance traveled to redress Mamo Mihretu aside, the pointed issues raised are all true and relevant.
It’s that human weakness of not bring able to admit mistake & having the fortitude to correct course that brings nations & governments down. Hope Abiy opens up & digests good advices coming from different sources.
I see Dr. Yonas receiving a lot of condemnation for his criticism of the government even from the usually polite & informed ones. (There are of course many, many rude & uninformed critics out there who retort to character attack when facts & logic fail them, but this is just the nature of our public discourse and there is no point in arguing with this group).
But as this article demonstrates, we should never forget that this is a criticism of the gov by a civic-minded intellectual who shares the broad visions of the PM for the country but who is disillusioned by the many blunders & policy missteps of the gov and turned back by the unwillingness ( aversion?) of the PM to listen to sensible outside advice.
To put it into perspective, I see Dr. Yonas’s criticism in the mold of Paul Krugman’s criticisms of the Clinton & Obama administrations for their adoption of the republican econ policy agenda and for their failures to protect the social safety net programs. Just like Krugman’s censure by fellow democrats, I found most of the denunciations of Dr. Yonas rather misplaced & misdirected.
I count myself among the(vanishing!)few who still think the PM is, even now, the best hope there is for the country. But I can’t deny the validity of Dr. Yona’s substantive criticism and, most importantly, I recognize & appreciate the great public service he is doing for the country. Soldier on, Dr. Yonas! Your country needs you!
I enjoy reading your articles (though I am a new comer) there are some facts in them that are not widely available, and are thought provoking…
Obviously you are very skillful in presenting your ideas, and possess a very rich vocabulary sets than most, yet you enjoy using words and terms that are less genteel, in the process you inadvertently reduce the impact of the very message you wanted to convey.
I do agree with some of the points you made, specially re Dr Eng Seleshi Bekele as an Ambassador (though he has served as Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy already). I agree his expertise would help a lot more in a new portfolio where water-pipeline-and irrigation expansion project to cover arable land in the warmer regions of Ethiopia (where water is scarce) where al lot more plantations can be established to supply the middle East and Europe with tropical produce…(as California does for the rest of US and Canada).
I also understand why his appointment in Washington is crucial to counter Egypt’s lobbying & congressional clout it has had for decades due to its connection to the Israeli issues (as leading Arab state). Dr. Seleshi is the counter forces unlike any other where only he can present an effective rebuttal to the Egypt’s position re GERD, explaining its “gravitational” nature and the waster will never stop but pass through a set of turbines and flow as it has always done. (2) he is also the best person to rebuttal Egypt’s “during Drought” argument, that the Aswan dam holds 169 b.c.m water ( 2.3 times more water) than the GERD’s 74 Billion Cubic meter of water.
As soon as the GERD is finished, perhaps next year, Dr. Seleshi himself might ask to go home and do something monumental game changer for the nation using his skills, a project like the one I mentioned above.
As in defense of the for PM, weeks after he was minted as a PM, he traveled to the US to t=meet and talk to the diaspora population and telling them all, this the time they can participate in lifting their former nation any possible way they could.
The invitation was out since that time, and its up to these “professionals” to step up, if they wish to do so. Some have returned (I have seen videos) and setup their own businesses in producing some urgently needed products to help farm production.
I commend the new Central bank appointee for choosing to return “home” and run for parliament and help whichever way his nation wants him to serve. Education is a tool to awaken the thinking process ( “critical-thinking” ) not a ‘blinder” to direct only on one direction, yes for most it serves that way, but not for all. Yes, some professions that are specific to an-end, do require such ‘blinders’ of ways in their application where the skill-sets predesigned (focused) sharp and directed.
I remember reading a few weeks ago about a Chinese student that got a scholarship to the US, his chosen subject of study was specific to chip-making and he was at the top of his class even while he was in China (under grad).
He finished his study in the US and the people in US try to accommodate him whichever ways he would like, but he was adamant in his plan to return home, and said “my nation needs me, and I am going back.”.
Link=youtube.com/watch?v=sa2dENK8SgE
There are such people.
And I am sure there are more and more people like that, if & when the condition on the ground is as peaceful and the potential to work & contribute in one’s own country is such as in China, more and more has done so and will continue to do. Including those you listed above, and the countless others that are out there dispersed all around the world.
And I am also hopeful your writing method and tone will become more accommodating & palatable to all, (without compromising the message) who would like to read, learn, participate in the discussions as the one’s you present time and again, concerning our motherland.
Thank you, for sharing.
Be well.
☝ The Chinese US graduated “Chip Dr.” link posted above… ☝
Dr. Chang Lin, that I posted the Video link of his story yesterday, has returned safely to China as reported today Jan 26/2023.
Link=min.news/en/tech/ffc1cdbbc8cb3b5843fc1b8cd19b80c8.html
Inspiring young man!!!
Be well.
“Foreign aid” :
By the way, I touched on your elevated enthusiasm about western-aid, I am against it, for a good reason.
1) research shows reliance on foreign-aid kills local-know-how, and creates generations of beggars.
2) the west gives “aid” agricultural-produce (wheat, corn…) in particular, to create long term buyer to its own farmers, by killing foreign-farmers that are a competitions to its own. So, instead of going to war with other producing countries, it simply buys the crop from its farmers to keep them in business gives the crop to others countries to kill their competitiveness.
3) All the nations that refused to accept “aid” are the most self sufficient than those who did received aid once and have a hard time growing their own, because the farming-skill- and -know-how- is long gone with the last generation that is no longer there.
** For example “crop-rotation” , burning farm-residue (weed) well known “farm-land fertilization” technique that our forefathers used in Ethiopia for centauries has now being lost & replaced in most areas due to the introductions & reliant on “chemical-fertilizers” developed in the late 70’s by a foreign farm NGO (“EPID”) I think from Canada, that was operating in Harar province mostly.
You mentioned, Ethiopia needs $45 billion foreign-aid to help its development… you may think it is “aid” but it is “COLONIZAION” with $$$$.
That is all it is, 7 we do not need it.
The Ethiopian & Canadian population in 1980 was 30 million each, 40 years later Canada has 37 million with many immigrants added every year, while Ethiopia has added new 85 million +, to a total of 114 million.
One of them, Canada is an Aid giver, the other Ethiopia has made itself an aid beggar.
Here is a $35 billion business idea:
From the cactus plant (a weed) that grows in Ethiopia in abundant amount all over the place and no use for it.
I just watched a video from Mexico 1 kilo =$150 of the die-bug that grows on cactus that is used in clothing-industry, makeup- products, arts, candies, beverage industries… and many many more…
This will create millions of jobs with little to zero investment capital…
Link=youtube.com/watch?v=iBNySB2jpVg
Natural Billionaires, but we just didn’t know we have this natural-gift growing almost everywhere… no idea it has huge potential…
“You live you learn”.
Hope some youngsters, mothers at home, get on these idea and create wealth.
Be well.
Let me share some perspectives on the human resource & appointment shortcomings of the government by going back to the early days of the reform period. The new PM assembled his new administration from two distinct lines of appointments: The old, party line appointments from the parties that made up the now defunct EPRDF; and the technocratic, new blood recruitments which were originally assembled by the then chief of staff of the PM, Fitsum Arega. The line between the two is now blurred as most of the new technocrats went on to join the PP party but most of the current problems in the appointment practices can be traced back to these two lines of the appointment process.
The new PM understandably couldn’t rely on the relatively capable old TPLF hands and had to appoint from the other parties to fill the important positions in his cabinet. But, as these other parties are the making of the TPLF by co-optation and have not had major new recruitment drives & personnel changes since the reform; they were unable to nominate their best & brightest to federal high offices so far. The technocratic, new blood recruits were supposed to fill this gap (as ‘kitchen cabinets’, advisors, or even cabinet ministers) but except for a notable couple of exceptions, this was mostly done through personal connections and I don’t think this process has brought on board a significant number of capable public servants.
This lack of high-quality personnel to fill the new administration was further exacerbated by the politicization and deliberate undermining of the bureaucracy by the EPRDF rule which led to demoralization and a lack of professionalism in the civil service. Revealing the lack of focus & priority in the reform agenda of the new gov, there is no major initiative to reform the bureaucracy & the civil service so far. New reform ideas & strategies may be hatched by a group of few technocrats but who is going to implement these fancy ideas?
Yes, EPRDF was able to initiate rapid growth with massive public investments without the need for a professional bureaucracy. But to sustain that growth with 2nd & 3rd-generation reforms that deal with structural changes and institutional quality improvements, a capable & professional bureaucracy is indispensable. The old EPRDF mantra “Our policies are perfect, our problem is implementation” won’t cut it this time!
Dr. Yonas, stop whining! You chose money over Ethiopia and served the White Supremacist West [WSW] till the WSW used you like a condom and threw you out!
አብይ መራም/አልመራም – ወያኔ፣ የወያኔ ውሾች እና የወያኔ ምዕራባውያን ነብስ አባቶች – ለ27 ዓመታት ተብትበው የዘረጉትን መረብ – በትንሽ ጊዜ በጣጥሶ – ኢትዮጵያን ማበልፀግ አይቻልም!
የኢትዮጵያን ዕድገት – ከልባችሁ የምትፈልጉ ቢሆን – እና – ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ለውጥ እንዲመጣ የምትፈልጉ ቢሆን እማ ኖሮ – አብይ ሥልጣን እንደያዘ – ሁላችሁንም ጋብዟችሁ አልነበረም ወይ?
አብዛኛው ውጪ የሚኖረው – ምሁር ነኝ ባይ ተቺ ሁሉ – በእውነት ኢትዮጵያን የሚወድ ቢሆን ኖሮ – ትምህርቱን እንደጨረሰ – ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ተመልሶ – ኢትዮጵያን ያገለግል አልነበረም ወይ?
ኢትዮጵያ – ለዘመናት በጦርነት ስትታመስ የከረመች – የ86 ዘሮች ሐገር ናት! እንኳን ይኼ ሁሉ – የውስጥም/የውጪም ችግር ፈጣሪ ተረባርቦባት – ተከማምሮ የከረመውን ችግር አወሳስቦት ቀርቶ – 86ቱን ዘሮች አግባብቶ – ኋላ ቀርን ሐገር ማስተዳደር መሞከር ራሱ – ትልቅ ራስ ምታት ነው!
ስለዚህ – የመፍትኼው አካል መሆን ካልፈለጋችሁ – እና – የጠላት ጉዳይ አስፈጻሚ ካልሆናችሁ – ተጨማሪ ችግር ከመፍጠር – እና – ተጨማሪ ችግር ከመሆን – ብትታቀቡ ምን ትጎዳላችሁ?
Re: “… Marshall Plan…”
(Sorry to break it for you, but your beloved “West” ( “Donner nations” ) are going broke at a faster rate (warp-speed) , maybe that is why you did not notice it… )
“If any country in Africa can make the case for a Marshall Plan, Ethiopia would be top on the list. See “Marshall Plan for Africa – the Strategic Imperative for the West” and “US should adopt a Marshall Plan for Ethiopia.””
The US “Marshall Plan for Europe” was devised to create a market to the US goods & services after WWII, and the money used to build Europe is strictly a LOAN, to be paid back with interest. UK just finished that “debt” very recently.
The US using the “inflation reduction act of 2022” is designed to suck back all the capital & manufacturing industry it helped build in Europe since 1945 back to the US in hopes of expanding its manufacturing-base to be able to compete with the rising China.
Which is going to de-industrialize Europe back to the stone age.
“America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.”
Henry A. Kissinger
However, in 2020’s things are different, times have changed ( ” the times they are a changing” bob Dylan ) .
1) with US’s involvement in Ukraine-proxy-war and its inability to bow out of it (with tarnished ego) as the Russians demolish whatever the US (NATO) puts forward, the likely hood of being nuked is more likely than ever. When the president, old man does not know where he is most of the time, and his leading “statesman” is a failed musician turned paper-pusher at the state department, with an assistant like Victoria Nuland an opportunist-neocon warmonger , they have no clue which way to turn, as their naked propaganda machine “Ukraine is winning” lie exposed by the day… and stuck with no way out, but further pushing to the unknown twilight-zone.
2) it is like going “against the current” for the US to stope the ever-accelerating “de-dollarization” that has been activated with its own irresponsible & unwise supper charged “Sanction” and “asset-Freeze” war against the world. Soon, when all the printed USD start to come back-home to the US, one needs a wheelbarrow full of $$$ to get a jag of milk.
As it happened in Germany in 1920’s when 1 German mark was =$1 USD, and fall to $1 USD = 1,000,000 German Mark…
With these scenario unfolding, you are suggesting : “US should adopt a Marshall Plan for Ethiopia.”
How?
US is busy saving self, using Europe’s energy needs, (2) attracting Europe industries & capital to move west…
Europe is struggling with energy shortage, perhaps food & other supply’s, higher price for raw materials …
Therefore, Ethiopia’s #1 effort must be to find a way to use its abundant water & arable-land to expand Farming:
1) to be able to feed its population
2) to expand its market share for its excess food (farm ) products, if & when achieved…
2) expedite and finish vital projects such as the GERD to be able to pay its debt load (without being pushed /squeezed to sell assets… by the IMFs of the world).
Dec 2022 Headlines :
“Egypt has joined BRICS’ de-dollarisation campaign”
Link=tfiglobalnews.com/2022/12/17/egypt-has-joined-brics-de-dollarisation-campaign/
Soon after IMF told Egypt to sell its national assets (Airliner…) , due to its currency crisis of 2022/23.
Link =al-monitor.com/originals/2023/01/crisis-hit-egypts-currency-halved-value-march
— As economic crisis deepens, will Egypt slow megaprojects down?
Link =msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-economic-crisis-deepens-will-egypt-slow-megaprojects-down/ar-AA16sOib
— Why Egypt is asking its people to eat chicken feet…
Link =msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-egypt-is-asking-its-people-to-eat-chicken-feet/ar-AA16tYRl
Be well.