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Curriculum Ethiopia's Economy

Ethiopia's Economy

How Africa's second most populous country pursued state-led growth: coffee, the developmental state, industrial parks, Ethiopian Airlines, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Tigray war, debt default and reforms, the birr float, and a recap.

  1. Ethiopia at a Glance An overview of Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country with over 120 million people, its fast growth in the 2000s and 2010s, and its challenges. 📄 Read-aloud
  2. Coffee: Ethiopia's Gift to the World How Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, depends on coffee exports, how smallholders grow it, and the role of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange. 📄 Read-aloud
  3. Ethiopia's Developmental State How Prime Minister Meles Zenawi modelled Ethiopia on East Asian developmental states, with heavy public investment, state banks and control over key sectors. 📄 Read-aloud
  4. Industrial Parks and Manufacturing How Ethiopia built industrial parks like Hawassa to attract garment makers with cheap labour and power, the early successes, and why exports disappointed. 📄 Read-aloud
  5. Ethiopian Airlines: An African Success How state-owned Ethiopian Airlines became Africa's largest and most profitable airline, using Addis Ababa as a hub linking Africa to the world. 📄 Read-aloud
  6. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam How Ethiopia built Africa's largest hydropower dam on the Blue Nile, financed largely at home, and the dispute with Egypt and Sudan over water. 📄 Read-aloud
  7. Ethiopia's Economy: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on Ethiopia's growth, coffee, the developmental state, industrial parks and Ethiopian Airlines. 5 questions
  8. The Tigray War's Economic Toll How the 2020-2022 war in Tigray killed many people, disrupted the economy, cut foreign aid and trade preferences, and damaged Ethiopia's growth story. 📄 Read-aloud
  9. Debt Default and Restructuring How Ethiopia's heavy borrowing for infrastructure, much of it from China, led to a default on a Eurobond payment in December 2023 and a debt restructuring. 📄 Read-aloud
  10. Floating the Birr How Ethiopia floated its currency, the birr, in July 2024 as part of an IMF deal, ending a big black-market gap, and the effects on prices and imports. 📄 Read-aloud
  11. Opening Telecoms and Banking How Ethiopia ended the state telecom monopoly by licensing Safaricom in 2021, and began opening banking to foreign investors. 📄 Read-aloud
  12. Farming and Food Security How most Ethiopians depend on rain-fed farming, the role of the Productive Safety Net Programme, and efforts to boost wheat output. 📄 Read-aloud
  13. Ethiopia's Economy: Recap A recap of Ethiopia's state-led growth, its crises and reforms, and lessons for other developing countries. 📄 Read-aloud

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