Is there a room for further discussion on solutions, regarding devaluation of Birr? Following the rumors of birr devaluation and some commentary articles and my brain storming article in Amharic, Tsehaye Alemayehu , (PhD.) came with a good and informative article with an adequate indicative data.The article however lacks details that address a solution to avoid the devaluation measures, it did not also try to discuss on how to enhance our export capabilities beyond the self-selling commodity we have, Coffee. But again it is an informative article with good data.Looking at the articles and attached data’s of World Bank and Ethiopian government agencies, there are many issues which can be raised but only some of them piqued my interest and I will try to list them with an aim of further discussions and to bring a possible solution to the problems.In summary the content of the article seem to agree to my brief analysis and brain storming article. I do agree that devaluation of birr is not going solve our problems trade balance. I think also that the IMF advice and push has no any relevance to the current Ethiopian situation. Because most of the import burdens we do have are almost impossible to replace them that easily and soon except may be few of them, one solution could be by looking closely on others category.I also believe that the aftermath completion of most of the infrastructure projects is going decrease some import burdens and will improve our productivity. Of course, we are also looking for power sell revenues. But what other solutions are possible? To me the solutions are much important the theoretical economics. No need of discussing theoretical economies that is very beautiful in books and for talks in class rooms.Further, I want to raise some questions that I think are relevant to discuss and to look at them in details. And they are as follows.1. Coffee is self-selling crop that does not grow in temperate zone that is dominantly western world. They are also the biggest importers of this commodity. The western Civilization is on the other hand the biggest exporters of our none-replaceable needs, except fuel oil. Looking at imports of other commodities by the western in comparison to other nations is lower. Why?2. Machinery and Aircraft import holds as a second largest, it is my estimation aircraft is referring to aviation aircrafts. How much of is for aircraft only? How much do we earn from the international civil aviation services? If not comparable income earning, why is so important to be present in the international aviation?3. Tsehay also noted the government need to address the problems which often hamster business but did not mention what they are, is there anyone who can list them from the government or experts who have done research on the field?This are few of the questions that I think are relevant to the problems the country faced at this time.Thanks Mulubrhan Dagnew09-01-14
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:48:03 +0000