Ethiopia

vivatifosi

Heard a brief article on the news about Ethiopia yesterday.

Talked about the huge investment from China and how Addis Ababa is being seen increasingly as the capital city of Africa.... have my doubts on that one as Abbis is tiny compared to some African capitals, still... A huge skyscraper newly built (investment by the Chinese and a light rail project). Its interesting. Ethiopia isn't really on my radar very often and I have to admit, my own personal mindset veered more towards Live Aid than a vibrant city.

I thought it would be interesting to talk about something a bit different from Greece, Scotland or houses...

Here's some more info:

In two years, Ethiopia has gone from 14th for African FDI to 8th
Growth 10.3% 2014, followed by 8.6% 2015 and 8.5% 2016 (IMF forecast)
However there is still a significant poor, rural population
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-05/ethiopia-s-hot-nigeria-s-not-for-investors-targeting-africa

Here's the large African Union HQ that was funded by the Chinese:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16770932

A new train link to Djibouti opening:
http://news.yahoo.com/africa-tracks-construction-key-djibouti-ethiopia-rail-line-033632871.html

Addis Ababa will soon have its own light rail system:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201504050071.html

The government aims to be a middle-income country by 2025, but is a long way from a democracy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/world/africa/ethiopia-an-african-lion-aspires-to-middle-income-by-2025.html?_r=0

And if the Guardian had it's way, Addis would be a tourist destination:
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jun/29/insider-guide-addis-ababa-car-crashes-coffee-contemporary-art

More info:
CIA World Factbook for Ethiopia:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html

What are your thoughts?

purch

As a direct Investing opportunity your options are limited and very illiquid. There are collective Investment pacakges that invest in Africa, but not many with much of a track record.

On the other hand there should be a select few Western company's that will be well placed to benefit from any growth generated by this kind of outside investment, so researching and watching out for those would be a good way to get involved.

Generali

Agree with purch.

Really the only way to invest in much of Africa is to buy assets directly. Given the state of governance in much of Africa, hanging on to those assets may prove tricky.

There isn't even a stock exchange in Ethiopia although there is a commodities exchange. The only way to invest realistically would be through a private equity group although you'd probably be looking at a minimum investment of a few hundred thousand dollars.

http://www.economist.com/node/21554547

Is an interesting piece.

Another way to invest of course would be to buy a house there. I have no idea if this represents value or not:

http://www.expat-blog.com/en/housing/africa/ethiopia/addis-ababa/42-houses-for-sale/289082-new-g2-homeeha358.html

The asking price is about £87,000 so you should be able to get it for about £80k. The suburb seems to be popular with ex-pats and diplomatic types.

mayonnaise

Generali wrote: »

Another way to invest of course would be to buy a house there. I have no idea if this represents value or not:

http://www.expat-blog.com/en/housing/africa/ethiopia/addis-ababa/42-houses-for-sale/289082-new-g2-homeeha358.html

The asking price is about £87,000 so you should be able to get it for about £80k. The suburb seems to be popular with ex-pats and diplomatic types.

2,800,000 Birr for a house in a country with an annual per capita income of around 10,000 Birr?
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ethiopia/overview

Does Graham know about this??

purch

Graham_Gembele :eek:

Gavin234

China is. Buying up mineral rich. Land

TheBlueHorse

the real question is, do they know it's Christmas time at all?

theEnd

I only remember a big shinny new airport. Empty.
Lots of begging, but no-one hungry.