How Ethiopia Can Foster a Light Manufacturing Sector

Abstract

Like other low-income countries, Ethiopia aspires to catch up and become a middle-income country. It covets a modern economy which can produce more than coffee and sesame seeds and offer its 85 million citizens better livelihoods. And this is no fantasy. Economic diversification from agriculture to manufacturing and services has happened elsewhere2 and not too long ago. This paper tries to understand what the Ethiopian government will have to do to bring it about.