Ministry of Finance Communication Director, Haji Ibsa told journalists on Wednesday that the government gave priority to partially privatize Ethio Telecom to take lessons from the process of undertaking privatization.
Ethio-telecom last Monday announced an over $594 million profit in the first half of this Ethiopian fiscal year (July-December 2018), achieving 80 percent of the target.
It is the state monopoly company and provides service to about 50 percent of the over 100 million population of the east African nation with its density reaching 43 percent.
Accordingly, technical and steering committees in charge of facilitating privatizing the state telecom monopoly are established under the Ministry of Finance, and a macro committee under the Office of the Prime Minister, Haji added.
Among the major state-owned companies to be privatized include Ethiopian Airlines, Ethio Telecom, Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise, and Ethiopian Electric Power.
The government decided to fully and partially privatize major state-owned and public enterprises for local and foreign investors to stimulate the country’s economic growth.