Feb 8, 2024, 1:21pm EST
Ethiopian “censorship” fight centers on IMF official’s comments
THE NEWS
ADDIS ABABA — In a defiant move against its publisher’s decision to pull an interview with an IMF official, journalists at The Reporter, Ethiopia’s largest circulation newspaper, ran two blank pages as a public protest on Feb. 3.
The newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Ashenafi Endale, accused the publisher, Amare Aregawi of siding with the Ethiopia representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tobias Rasmussen. Journalists there, who spoke to Semafor Africa on condition of anonymity, said Rasmussen sought to retract what they said were lukewarm comments about economic reform efforts by the Ethiopian government.
“This week’s interview is being published as a blank section as a result of undue pressure to withhold the piece in the hours leading up to publication,” the paper wrote following the blank page.
The Reporter’s editor told Semafor Africa he was put under pressure to pull the interview from publication.
“As we were about to go to press, Mr. Ramussen abruptly asked to change his own replies,” Ashenafi Endale said. “He threatened that he will go to the highest authorities of the Ethiopian government should he not be granted his wish.”
The IMF did not provide further details. “We are aware of the story, which appeared recently, and we do not have much to add”, an IMF spokesperson told Semafor Africa. “That said, we would like to reiterate that the IMF has an established track record of sharing information and genuinely engaging with various stakeholders, including the media.” The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions addressing details of the dispute and Rasmussen’s role.
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The dispute comes at a sensitive time for Ethiopia. It is currently in talks with the Bretton Woods Institution to borrow more than $3.5 billion. The Horn of African nation missed a debt payment on Dec. 11 and the government hopes the IMF will play an important role as it recovers from an economy ravaged by war and restarts its three-year economic reform agenda.
In the meantime, the IMF has been pressing the government to float its weak currency, end government subsidies, and broaden the tax base — reforms already partially underway as the nation struggles with high inflation hovering around 30%.