It is probably impossible to come up with a society which has equitable distribution of resources among its members. Therefore, mankind has always lived in unequal societies. There have always been the rich and the poor. With rapid development and the subsequent progress of some section of the society in the process, the gap between the rich and poor has widened significantly, an issue Society deals with this week.

The Awesome Divide

The adoption of capitalism as the socio-economic and political paradigm of Ethiopia has led to increased private ownership which had tied to a maximum limit in the former regime. Since then, there have arisen lots of private businesses with millions of capital. That has helped the private sector to become another source of employment, though it is still not the sort of employer it should have been.
Those that have benefited from the process have built mini-empires of their own, with a chain of companies to run. Such a condition allows lots of resources to be owned by a few individuals. That definitely widens the gap between the rich and the poor but it does not necessarily mean that the poor are getting poorer.
Since economic growth is characterized by increased trade, the rich, represented mainly by business owners, presumably would benefit from the growth the country is experiencing in recent years. The high inflation evident along with the economic growth would, however, drive the poor even poorer as the high cost of commodities hits their already meager finances hard. On the contrary, the rich might even become richer from the inflation as overpricing would be very random. That shows the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in urban areas.
The story may not be the same in rural areas though. With the growth of agricultural production in the country, rural areas that are predominantly agrarian earn much more income than what they normally used to. Rural areas might just be the place where the poor are actually getting richer in our country. That leads to the fact that the poorest of the poor live in cities.

Are the rich getting richer and the poor, ever poorer?

By Lekbir Taffesse

There is no hope of survival or betterment for those with very little capital while for some who have big bucks there is a better chance of geting richer.

Asres, data encoder

There are many taxes that those who are rich have to pay. All these taxes are supposed to help distribute wealth equally. So rather than going further apart, we are drawing closer to each other. Those who were called poor are drawing close to the middle class.

Samuel, footballer

In a free market economy, those who have capital beat down their competitors and emerge as bigger victors while the rest will be fighting for survival. That is what is happening in our country as well. The rich get richer by exploiting the poor - whether they be their employees or their customers.

Hanna, college student

The adoption of a free market economy has led to the privatization of government owned firms that support lots of workers. Such moves lead to layoffs. So, people do not really have a chance to save but rather they will be forced to use what they have saved in order to survive.

Sisay, civil servant

I don't think the poor are getting poorer for there can not be more poverty than what Ethiopians are in. We are well below the absolute poverty line and I'm not sure if there is any worse place than that. I can, however, say that the rich are getting richer.

Zelalem, painter

With the devaluation of money over the years, people can no longer live the kind of life they used to with the salary level not keeping pace to the rise in commodity prices. This means that people get poorer every time there is a price increase. Such a condition holds back the country's slow efforts towards building a middle class.

Kaleab, designer