The new government of Ethiopia, although still from the ruling EPRDF, has stirred debates in spaces as varying as diplomacy and entertainment. Its economic policy-making, being one of the main tasks of a government, has similarly been a hotbed of debate. Unlike the old days where the debate in the economic space had to do with contemplation of what best statist model should the government adopt, the emerging debate has to do with whether the Ethiopian state has abandoned (or would soon abandon) its long standing Developmental State model. And the debate is happening despite an affirmation from no higher agency than the Prime Minister that no change in model is there.
Proponents of the Developmental State model remain firm and committed in saying that little of a change has been agreed upon at coalition level (it would help to remind that EPRDF is a coalition of four major regional parties). Except one of the coalition members, the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) that touted to rule out the concept of Revolutionary Democracy, a political wrapping to the economics of Ethiopia's Developmental State exercise, all the other members have not, at least until now, officially announced their departure from the model.
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