Ethiopia Hailed as 'African Lion' With Fastest Creation of Millionaires _ World News _ the Guardian

7/27/2019 Ethiopia Hailed as 'African Lion' With Fastest Creation of Millionaires _ World News _ the Guardian

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Office blocks under construction in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. But the reality is also many very poorneighbourhoods. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

"Dawn. And as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outsideKorem it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century. This place, say workershere, is the closest thing to hell on earth."

That television news report by the BBC's Michael Buerk in 1984 framed Ethiopia for ageneration as a place of famine and in need of salvation.

Almost 30 years later the country is hailed by pundits as an "African lion" after a decadeof stellar economic growth.

Now further evidence of its turnaround has arrived with research showing that Ethiopia

Ethiopia hailed as 'African lion' with

fastest creation of millionairesMichael Buerk's famished Ethiopia of 1984 has become a nationachieving 93% GDP growth in six years, finds study

David Smith , Africa correspondentThe Guardian, Wednesday 4 December 2013 16.49 GMT

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is creating millionaires at a faster rate than any other country on the continent.

The number of dollar millionaires in the east African nation rose from 1,300 in 2007 to2,700 by September this year, according to New World Wealth, a consultancy based inthe UK and South Africa.

That figure puts the country well ahead of Angola, up by 68%, and Tanzania, which hada 51% increase. Zambia and Ghana completed the top five.

The study finds that the rise in millionaires has been closely tied to GDP growth, in which Ethiopia has also fared best over the past six years achieving 93%, followed by Egypt (81%) and Angola (61%).

The authors note, however, that Ethiopia started from a very low base, and its percapital wealth is still just $470 (£287), compared to $3,187 (£1,948) in Egypt and$7,508 (£4,588) in South Africa.

Andrew Amoils, a senior analyst at New World Wealth, said: "The economic and wealthgrowth in Ethiopia over the last five or six years has been really strong. There has been alot of privatisation and certain sectors are growing well. It's a huge upswing but it

started from a low base."

As in other parts of Africa, however, the growth is not necessarily shared.

"The millionaires are growing at a faster rate than the middle class, which doesn't really exist in a lot of African countries, including Ethiopia," Amoils said. "Angola, forexample, has had massive millionaire growth in the last 10 years but that hasn't spilledthrough to the average Angolan."


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But whereas much of Africa's boom has been driven by mineral resources, leadingsectors for millionaires in Ethiopia include agriculture, manufacturing and transport.

The richest Ethiopian is said to be the businessman Mohammed Al Amoudi, who divideshis time between Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, where he now has citizenship.

A construction boom is underway in the capital, Addis Ababa, but Amare Abebaw, asocial entrepreneur, said the rest of the world does still did not appreciate the country'sextraordinary transformation.

"When I go home and watch TV I still see the famine from the 80s and I wonder how dothey still show this on the BBC when things have improved here? It is painful for us. Weknow it is part of our history but we want to focus on the present."

Nevertheless, while the number of millionaires is definitely increasing, they remain afraction of the population.

"There are a few at the top but the majority of people are at the bottom, like in othercountries," Abebaw said. "There are self-made millionaires and people are proud toknow them. There are others where you don't know where they got the money from, andsuspicions may arise from the population."

South Africa is the top African country for millionaires with 48,700 in 2013, followed by Egypt with 22,800 and Nigeria with 15,700.

Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, said he had witnessed the rise of tower blocks, traffic jams and people now "walking with a purpose" in Addis Ababa.

He added: "You don't see many Ethiopians in flashy cars, like you do with Luanda orLagos [citizens in their respective countries]. Flaunting your wealth is not part of theculture."

The Ethiopian government claims credit for the growth but is criticised as authoritarian by human rights groups; there is only one opposition MP.

In a recent blog post, Dowden noted that the former prime minister Meles Zenawi onceobserved: "There is no connection between democracy and development."

© 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.


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Ethiopia Hailed as 'African Lion' With Fastest Creation of Millionaires _ World News _ the Guardian

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