Call for stronger parliamentary oversight on Ethiopia's economic reforms

This analysis piece calls on the Ethiopian Parliament to exercise its constitutional authority to provide stronger oversight of government economic reforms and foreign borrowing. The author argues that lawmakers should scrutinize how policies like exchange-rate liberalization, tax adjustments, and monetary tightening impact the purchasing power and living standards of ordinary citizens, rather than relying solely on official macroeconomic growth projections. The text contends that Parliament must move beyond merely ratifying budgets and loans to conducting public hearings and demanding accountability from the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank. It emphasizes that the legislature needs to investigate the actual outcomes of these reforms, track public debt usage, and ensure the government publishes clear, verifiable economic data for public transparency. The analysis concludes that the role of Parliament is to serve as a critical examiner of the executive branch to protect citizen interests.