So in a world where gold is becoming strategic rather than merely commercial, what is Ethiopia missing by exporting primarily as a raw commodity?

To appear with a vast untapped reserves, potentially worth trillions, some estimate PEG-8 single discovery at $7 trillion is exporting mostly raw gold of nearly 39 tons in 2024-2025, dropping to 30 tons projected for 2025 and 2026.

As a stock pass depletes this under-representation in value, in value chains means it's missing out on premiums from refining and processing while illicit smuggling up to six tons annually drains potential revenue to leverage for growth and relevance first of all the company to build domestic refining and value addition shipped from raw export by investing local so How can Ethiopia do that? First of all, to build domestic refining and value addition, shift from raw export by investing in local refineries.

Ghana's model is suspending certain export licenses to force local processing could be emulated.

So we are saying that Ethiopia can emulate Ghana but first of all making sure that most licenses meant for foreign investors are catered for the local investors in that way they can refine you know their good in order to have a value addition now this for instance captured 20 to 30 percent more value creates jobs and reduces vulnerability global price swings etropia's national bank exiting the gold market by end of 2026 opens door for private banks but regulations must be prioritized national control to avoid foreign exploitation to accumulate strategic reserves and diversify markets with total reserves at three point including gold, Ethiopia should re-ramp up central bank holdings to buffer against sanctions or dollar fluctuations, a la Russia's playbook.

Export more to BRICS buyers like China, already a growing partner, instead of dollar-denominated Western markets.

potentially joining good bad settlement mechanisms for trade stability three ethiopia must avoid resource dependency traps high revenues are tempting but reinvest in agriculture tech and infrastructure to prevent that disease that is quote and unquote policies policies like sovereign wealth funds modeled on noise could fund education and diversification and shown gold boosters 10 percent of of gdp gdp growth without distorting the economy geopolitically this position this positions ethiopia as a bricks ally using good as a buffer against external pressure though risks like internal conflict that is degree smuggling for example differ from russia's due to weaker institutions if ethiopia designs a national strategy focus on geopolitical have three key decisions stand out one mandate local refinery for all export by 2030 two forge alliances with bricks for tech transfer in mining and three build a good bad sovereign fund to hedge against global volatility

If BRICS accelerates discussions around alternative settlement mechanisms which are backed partially by gold, where does that leave African economies that produce gold but transact largely in the U.S. dollars?