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IMAGE: ARIADNA BASTART
Ethiopia A story of growth and assets
A vast and stable country situated on the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is home to Africa’s most celebrated business hub, Addis Ababa, and a wealth of lucrative natural and human resources just waiting to be tapped by U.S. investors.
resources for solar, hydro, oil, gas, coal and geothermal power. Not surprisingly, Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Mines and Energy asserts in five years’ time the sector will boom, as long as it can secure the right investment. “The biggest challenges that the country faces are financing and qualified professionals who bring the foreign investment that is crucial for the development of the sector,” he says.
Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Mines and Energy
Recording impressive year-on-year growth averaging 11% over the past five years, the country of 80 million people is prepar- A country in motion ing to maintain that percentage, at worst, or double it at best, by Yet despite the challenges, things are moving, and at pace. A 2015 with the launch of a five-year growth and transformation universal electricity access program has been launched to inplan. The development blueprint, which has been endorsed by crease the numbers of towns and villages with electricity from Ernst and Young, will set Ethiopia firmly on the fast track to 41% to 50% within five years. Meheret Debebe, CEO of Ethiobecoming a middle-income country, as it triggers fresh waves pian Electric Power Corporation says: "In the last five years, our annual connection rate has grown to 350,000 customers of investment into the country. Enjoying his fourth term in power after elec- per annum and we plan to electrify 1,700 towns and villages a tions in May 2010, Prime Minister Meles Ze- year over the next five years.” This is significantly more higher nawi cuts a well-known figure on the interna- than the previous levels of 40,000 and 30 respectively. He continues: “Energy demand rose to 25% in 2009/10 so tional stage as a champion for free markets and for Africa, regularly representing the continent we are aggressively expanding our grid to meet that. We would expect demand in the next few years to be around 17%.“ at G8 meetings. Meles Zenawi, Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic DevelIn the last three years, Zenawi has implePrime Minister mented important trade reforms to improve opment, hopes all this activity will redress the common percompetitiveness and expand Ethiopia’s footprint in both regional and global economies, and spearheaded some ambitious construction projects throughout the country. Ethiopia’s natural force “Within this term, we will invest more heavily in infrastructure, particularly electricity from green sources,” he says. EEPCo plans to increase “We want to increase generation from the current 2,000MW the electric power capacity to about 20,000MW. It is very important that we build more from 8,000 - 10,000MW in the roads, rectify our railway system and increase our ICT infracoming 5 years. The goal is structure.” to achieve 100% coverage With an economy resting on services, agriculture and laborall over the country. intensive manufacturing, solid and reliable energy provision will be a crucial factor in Ethiopia’s development. Less than Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation half the population has access to electricity, and neighbors KeAddis Ababa, Ethiopia nya and Sudan are counting on Ethiopia in the future for their Tel:+251 11 155 95 67 Fax:+251 11 551 57 77 energy imports. The country has seen a 900% increase in powwww.eepco.gov.et er production over the last decade and has abundant potential