In addition to the polluting cars and trucks rumbling along the roads, cleaner — and quieter — vehicles are joining the traffic. Electric buses, smaller 15-seat minibuses, cars and motorbikes are popping up on the streets of the capital. There are around 100,000 EVs in Ethiopia so far. The Ethiopian government estimates that number will more than quadruple by 2032. That’s largely because the national government took the extraordinary step earlier this year of banning the import of all gas-powered passenger vehicles — becoming the first nation in the world to do so. It also effectively slashed the customs tax on imported cars: The tax on gas vehicles was up to 200% before they were banned, while the import tax for fully assembled EVs is just 15%, according to the country’s finance ministry.s, Benin has been trapped in a trading pattern in which it sells cheap raw commodities and imports expensive finished goods. The apparel industry, which relies on cheap labour once machines have churned out the yarn and fabric, has long been considered one of the most accessible rungs on the ladder of industrialisation, drawing workers from the countryside into factories and putting countries on the long road out of poverty.
CNN
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