Ethiopian Investment Holdings

In South Africa, the central bank moved in the opposite direction, raising its benchmark rate to 7.25% as fuel prices and services inflation increased pressure on consumer prices.

In East Africa, Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings announced plans for a $660 million petroleum products pipeline connecting Djibouti and Ethiopia.

And in Kenya, plans are moving forward for a $17 billion oil refinery in Lamu designed to process up to 700,000 barrels per day.

These projects matter because they show where major long-term investment is flowing across the continent.

"In the last forty years, Ethiopian Airline has bailed out the government more than the other way around," he added.

The airport will sit in a special purpose vehicle, ring-faced from the airline's balance sheet with the National Bank of Ethiopia and probably Ethiopian Investment Holdings on its board.

Merit says the chief executive has been explicit that all outside capital, Gulf, Chinese or American, comes through that vehicle, and he expects Gulf money to arrive that way rather than through a sovereign wealth fund deal.

Politics is politics, this is a company, was how he put it.