The Reporter argues competition, not price caps, will ease Ethiopian prices

In an unsigned editorial on 24 October, the Addis Ababa-based independent weekly The Reporter reads the capital's meat boycott as a symptom of a wider cost-of-living crisis. When beef at upmarket butchers reached 6,000 birr a kilogram, residents stayed away from those shops. The city administration held talks and imposed price caps in some districts. According to the paper, Ethiopia has endured recurring waves of inflation for more than 10 years. In recent months living costs have outpaced incomes, a gap that carries a risk of political instability.

The editorial lists 4 structural causes. The first is concentrated middlemen who set prices at will along the chain from importer to retailer. The second is low productivity, heavy external debt service, costly logistics, corruption and illegal checkpoints that extort traders on the roads. The third is a weakening birr that makes imports dearer. The fourth is spending on military operations and the displaced, which diverts resources from development and social support. The paper says the government's measures towards single-digit inflation fall short. Piecemeal price caps bring brief relief but distort the market further.

The Reporter makes 3 proposals. It wants 1 market regulation that protects genuine competition without a return to a command economy. It calls for a real role for economic research institutions in policy design, and for inclusive forums that bring businesses and consumers to the same table. The editorial says the cost of living should be policymakers' number 1 priority.