ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia has been exporting wheat to boost its dwindling foreign currency reserves, raising concerns that it could deepen a looming food crisis.
The country is among a number of nations in the Horn of Africa on the brink of famine after five consecutive failed rainy seasons. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, during a visit to the capital Addis Ababa, announced more than $331 million in humanitarian aid would be provided to Ethiopia this year to help people affected by drought, food insecurity and conflict in Ethiopia.
Despite its food crisis, Ethiopia’s government began exporting wheat to drought-affected neighboring nations last month after signing a $200 million deal with the World Food Programme in February to supply the crop to the humanitarian organization.
But the import-dependent country is also grappling with a foreign currency crisis. The International Monetary Fund says the country’s foreign exchange reserves can finance less than one month’s worth of imports.
Aid agencies have appealed to international donors to help Ethiopia avoid a famine but Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government says it has enough wheat to feed the country’s 120 million people and meet its export obligations.
Others fear the impact of exports. “The intention to export wheat while millions of Ethiopians are going hungry and making a full-blown PR campaign about the intended export shows the utter disregard Abiy’s administration has for Ethiopian citizens,” said Hone Mandefro, advocacy director of the Amhara Association of America group which has long been critical of the current government.
Alemayehu Geda, an economics professor at Addis Ababa University, described the policy to export wheat in the midst of a potential famine as “unethical”.
Ethiopia’s government is balancing two big problems — a faltering economy and the risk of famine which, according to the United Nations, threatens 24 million people.
The country is sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest wheat producer but yields have not kept pace with population growth. Ethiopia had been importing around $600 million worth of wheat annually until harvesting changes in the last three years improved yields. But Ethiopia did not import wheat last year and the government has committed to becoming a net exporter.
The export push is part of a plan to get forex the country desperately needs to import goods, while hoping that the crisis predicted by humanitarian experts fails to materialize.
Source: Semafor