Kebede Chane, Minister of Trade, said Ethiopia might delay its plan to join the World Trade Organizations (WTO) by 2015, if the nation is asked to liberalize its telecom and banking sectors sooner than the time it plans to, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday Kebede told MPs, WTO member countries raised different questions in relation to the timetable Ethiopia plans to open up the service sector to the international competition.

Kebede said "A lot of issues are being raised regarding the service sector (telecom, banking and power industry)."

“We are being asked to clarify our timetable for privatizing these sectors".

According to Reuters Ethiopia has strong state intervention policies while its economy is one of the fastest growing in the sub-Saharan nations. And its population of 90 Million is alluring to foreign investors.

Nevertheless, the nation has been reluctant to liberalize claiming it wants to shield its infant private sector from foreign competition and to keep profits at home.

Commenting on this Kebede said, "We need to give serious thought to this issue". "Right now, our economy is small and still needs to develop a lot."

He then noted it took China 50 years to accept membership to the WTO.

WTO has adopted new rules in 2012 that lowered the bar for world's least developed countries to join the Organization. It requires the nation’s to open fewer sectors, liberalize fewer types of transactions, and only open up their markets as their economies develop.

Kebede noted Ethiopia is currently checking it’s laws compatibility to the WTO rules. He added “We are taking one step at a time. As a result, membership might not be completed (in 2015)".

Source: Reuters