“They are incredibly wary about business,” said Tony de la Motte, managing director of Group Five Projects, a unit of JSE-listed Group Five.“I couldn’t even get a one-year visa from this man,” De la Motte said, patting Berga’s shoulder at the panel discussion. However, recent protests by the country’s largest ethnic groups, the Omoro and Amhara, threatens that stability.Berga conceded that the government had been slow to reform, adding that the recent unrest has taken its attention away from reforming the business environment. The country was also dealing with decades of socialist control and practices, and an acute shortage of foreign currency. We have to transit from being control-minded to being business-minded.”The government was building two industrial parks that were almost fully booked, Berga said. Incentives included typical tax holidays ranging from two to nine years…

Source: Ethiopian News October 23, 2016 04:18 UTC