Ethiopia’s Reforms Open Opportunities for Firms and People

HighlightsEthiopia's economic reforms are delivering results, opening access to foreign exchange, stabilizing the financial system, and improving conditions for businesses to invest, grow, and create jobs.For firms across the country, improved access to foreign currency is easing a top constraint to production, business confidence, and more private investment.For the most vulnerable households, an expansion of social protection payments is providing a critical buffer, helping protect families from the costs of economic adjustment.These gains are set to go further, with support from a series of World Bank Group Development Policy Operations, deepening Ethiopia’s homegrown reforms, broadening economic opportunities, and building the resilience that people and businesses need to thrive in the long term. Creating more and better jobs requires businesses to invest and grow. For years, however, businesses importing goods into Ethiopia faced a frustrating and costly uncertainty. Even with proper invoices and documentation, they could not reliably predict the customs value that would be assigned to their goods, or what they would ultimately owe. That unpredictability rippled across supply chains, made it harder to price products competitively, and undermined Ethiopia's appeal as a destination for trade and investment.