The Double Digit Growth Miracle in Ethiopia

The Double Digit Growth Miracle in 

Ethiopia

Dear Greg Toulmin
Country Program Coordinator for Ethiopia
World Bank

Greg Toulmin

I heard a clip of a panel discussion you participated hosted by Woman’s National Club on April 1 in Washington D.C. The discussion was about strategic importance of Ethiopia in Africa. Your claim of an economic miracle under the current regime of Ethiopia compared to the previous regimes of Haile Selassie and Mengistu is nonsense to say the least.

The current regime has been showered with foreign aids yearly of 2 billion alone from USA and from other donors close to the same amount yearly. That is 1000 times of that Haile Selassie/Mengistu. The remittance is close to 3 billion yearly. Therefore comparing the current regime with the previous is inaccurate.

Capital estimated around 12 billion has left Ethiopia illegally in the last decade alone according to independent investigators. The 99 percent of Ethiopians are still living under one dollar a day. So much for the growth.

Food, water, sanitation, electricity, transportation and health for the majority is impossible to get. Addis Ababa residents are coming out this coming Sunday for the day of rage, “YeErita Ken” demanding the basics of life. The double digit miracle is going to be challenged in public.

Your defense of World Bank for its role in Ethiopia is understandable. The good thing is Ethiopia has many capable “Ambassadors” to challenge those like you who underestimate our people or take us as “stupid” as one of the panelists correctly put it.There is no miracle of growth in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Diaspora has grown one million times in the last two decades alone. Educated and uneducated are living legally or illegally because there is No Miracle of Growth to be part of. The Growth is Stupid !!!!

Sincerely,

Tedla Asfaw

http://ecadforum.com