A committee under the Office of the Prime Minister tasked with finding solutions to manufacturing industries battered by the war in Tigray has little to show for its efforts as investors in the region brace themselves to face the December deadline for an 18-month grace period on bank credit repayments.
Berhe Arkebe, secretary-general of the Mekelle Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, told The Reporter that repeated calls for debt relief have fallen on deaf ears, leaving business owners in the region in a precarious position.
“Investors facing the December deadline are traumatized and tense as they see no end to this crisis,” Berhe said. “Our understanding of the NBE’s leeway on the debt is as if it told us to ‘go and die together’.”
Members of the business community had requested the federal government to facilitate debt forgiveness shortly after the committee under the PMO was established in early 2023. The Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) had also placed similar requests with the central bank, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ethiopian Investment Commission at around the same time. Read more