Over 150,000 employees have been laid off, and their future remains uncertain, company officials told the online Ethiopian Reporter.
Coca-Cola had slashed production by 75 percent to stay alive in the market, company managers said, until total lack of imported production inputs forced the closure on March 12th.
The company had asked the National Bank of Ethiopia for credit but its request was rejected on policy grounds.
Hotels and restaurants as well as other small businesses have been selling the soft drink at 5:00 Birr (0.50 US cents), which is twice the regular price. “Now the issue is not about the price but the disappearance of the drink altogether,” sources told the Reporter.
Board directors of the company are due to meet the government over rescue talks next week.
One of the oldest businesses,
Coca-Cola started production in the country in 1959, and is the first of its kind in Africa or anywhere else to shut down due to foreign currency shortage.
Observers say what is a doom for Coke could be a boom for its rival Pepsi, which is owned by Ethiopian billionaire Sheikh Mohamed Al-Amoudi.
The shortage of foreign currency has further compounded the economic crisis in the country. On Thursday the Central Statistics Office reported inflation of food prices had reached 104% last month, up from 98% in December 2008. (Ethiomedia)
