DO YOU KNOW? Another report about economic growth in Ethiopia seems to oppose the doubt coming from critics. While speaking generally about the growth in Africa, the Paris-based OECD Development Center stated that Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa. The report on Ethiopia said,“Recent economic developments in Ethiopia have been favorable, despite the ongoing political tensions. Real GDP growth in the 2006 fiscal year was estimated at 5.9 per cent and was due largely to robust growth in agriculture, industry and services. Real GDP growth is projected at 6.3 per cent in 2007, again reflecting strong performances in the industry and services sectors.” However many opposition supporters would beg to differ about such improvement in Ethiopia. In one interview, even the usually optimistic Bulcha Demeska in Oromia of an opposition party called Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) refused to accept the economic growth of the country flaunted by the ruling party and its supporters. Is he correct or are there some economic progresses? The overwhelming view appears to be there are some improvements in the last few years and the fact that Ethiopia is achieving this without Oil revenue like some of the growing African & middle East nations cant be ignored. According to diverse sources, there are fundamental infrastructure developments; increase in services and of course the rain has helped inflate the growth beyond anything. The fact that Ethiopia, today, is still one of the poorest nations in the world should be an example of how extremely & deeply poor we were before, not an example of how slow we are progressing now. Still there are problems. Inflation rates remain abnormal, some of the poor is getting poorer and unbalanced use of budget and corruption still remain an issue. So why do we have Ethiopians in deep enmity and against each other when the topic of economic development comes? This problem among some Ethiopians seems to be that the issue of development has been excessively politicized. For instance, when reports of fast economic growth are publicized pro-government (ruling EPRDF party) Ethiopians suddenly shove it in the throats of opposition supporters. This in your face attitude might not be new but it doesn’t seem to be fading or be helpful. Meanwhile opposition supporters find themselves being cornered and end up being doubtful of every good news that comes from Ethiopia. Even if the whole world and all institutions conclude that the economic growth exists, some opposition supporters would find a way, first, to find a connection between the international institutions and the government, second, find a way to discredit the institutions in Ethiopia and lastly conclude that the good news was just a sham. As the result, we end up having Ethiopians with no background on economics suddenly becoming PhDs and experts. Some of them end up exaggerating the growth and saying the country is booming while keeping a blind eye about the inflation and ignoring the rain factor which can be disastrous if not addressed. Meanwhile some opposition supporters also convert to economists overnight, and start exaggerating problems and saying inflation is 30, 40 etc %. Such self-made economists are even more unpredictable for they might wake up one day and say inflation is 50,000 percent. Certainly, being against good news in Ethiopia is not a position Ethiopian opposition supporters want to be at, but it takes two to tango and the stuck-up attitude of ruling party supporters seems to fuel this bad blood and animosity. The worst part about this issue is there will remain a big gap in our country with a catastrophic shortage of Ethiopians “in the middle” who are willing to use & accept constructive criticism, as well as work together to solve the country’s problems which will not be evaporating like magic away anytime soon - no matter who is in power - especially when we are fighting against each other. Source: nazret/blog/index.php/ethiopia_latest_report_shows_economic_gr?blog=17
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 08:35:16 +0000
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