staff writer

Ethiopia has long been renowned as a top producer of specialty coffees like Yirgacheffe and Harar. However, rising temperatures and prolonged droughts are now making it much harder for smallholder farmers to cultivate their signature coffee crops. As an alternative, many farmers have gradually begun replacing their coffee trees with the more drought-resistant khat plant.

Flexibility sought as sector’s loans, members multiply. Savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) have become major players in Ethiopia’s financial landscape, filling an important gap in access to credit left unmet by traditional banks. As consumer demand for loans has intensified in recent years, particularly to purchase vehicles and housing, SACCOs have experienced rapid growth by

3+ Years Pass Without a Single New Entrant in Ethiopia’s Neglected Sector While Ethiopia’s banking sector boomed with player numbers doubling, its insurance industry stagnated over six years despite premiums skyrocketing. Only one new insurer entered despite a 25 billion birr premium jump. Insurers face obstacles like inflation eroding margins, regulatory barriers hindering innovation, and

Used clothing imports known locally as “bonda” have come to dominate over half of Ethiopia’s clothing market in recent decades. Bonda provides affordable garment options that are appealing to consumers across income levels. Since the 1980s, bulk shipments of sorted Western overstock and returns have been arriving from abroad and sold locally. This has posed

Experts Debate Ethiopia’s Credit Limit Policy Impact Ethiopia’s central bank enacted stringent measures 10 months ago to reign in rampant credit growth and surging inflation by imposing a 14 percent cap on commercial bank lending. This policy has proven successful at slowing money supply expansion and reducing consumer price pressures, with inflation falling from over