Wednesday October 14, 2020
The government of Ethiopia has announced the termination of its activity to partially privatize the country’s Airlines, an official said on Tuesday.Mid 2018, the government of Ethiopia had announced a decision to sell the Airlines partially for local and foreign investors.
The move to liberalize the Airlines with limits to foreign investors had come as a surprise move after the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide said the government has revoked the process of partial privatization of Ethiopian Airlines.
The minister said that the cancellation of the partial privatization of the airlines is attributed to its growing global reputation and profitability.
Other than the Ethiopian Airlines, the ruling government decided to privatize the country’s railway service, sugar plants industry parks, hotels, maritime transport and other enterprises fully or partially.
The 750 kilometers Ethiopian Railway which runs between Addis Ababa and Djibouti was opened in 2016 after it was completed at a cost of US $3.4 billion with loans from Chinese banks.
It is not known at this point as to what portion of the enterprise was up for sale. Ethio-Telecom, another giant state owned service providing enterprise, and Hydro plants are in the list to be privatized list.