It came to public attention that Ethiopia which mid last month launched new birr notes in 10, 20, 100 and 200 denominations had a sly trick up its sleeve with the old birr notes. It was revealed yesterday that Ethiopia had been planning to pay off their foreign debt with their old notes.
“I would have loved to see the looks on China’s face when it comes to buying coffee in our old currency just to realize we had moved on,” said a comedian turned political commentator.
Ethiopia has been struggling to service their railway loans and recently asked for Beijing to restructure a $4 billion loan for the Addis-Djibouti railway.
Experts have said that the country is a place of such grand proclivities and pointed out this is the first such attempt anywhere.
Asked on how Addis Ababa has maintained a straight face and remained calm despite the secret plan becoming public, a highly placed source said,
“I mean our emperor was, through some hereditary gymnastics a descendent of Solomon… there is no making this up, our leaders are capable of imagining this could work…imagine that both Kenya and India, both with Chinese debts and both recently introduced new banknotes had not thought about this.”
Addis Ababa has in a press release rubbished these claims as the “creation of our detractors and opposition politicians who do not want us to clear our debts.”
