Laying the Building Blocks

Strengthening Ethiopia’s Public Private Partnership Legal Framework

As with other other developing countries, Ethiopia faces challenges in achieving infrastructure development at a fast enough pace to meet the needs of its citizens. In 2011, the World Bank estimated that Ethiopia has an annual infrastructure funding gap of 3.5 billion US dollars. The government of Ethiopia recognises infrastructure development as pivotal to spurring economic growth and development in the country. Among the priority infrastructure development targets is an expansion in energy production, transmission and distribution networks, and expansion of transportation infrastructure and logistic services.

The Covid-19 pandemic has placed additional strain on the Ethiopian government’s domestic reserves and public budget, which has increased urgency in leveraging alternative solutions to infrastructure financing. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are one of the tools the government of Ethiopia has used to fill the infrastructure financing gap.

Recognising that gaps existed in Ethiopia's PPP regulations, legal experts in the PPP Framework Management and Contract Support Directorate (FMCS) scoped out what would be required to fill them, assisted by an embedded Oxford Policy Fellow.