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Episode details

World Service,17 Jan 2018,26 mins

Ethiopia Releases Opposition Leader

World Business Report

Available for over a year

Merera Gudina is the first of more than 500 prisoners Ethiopia has said it will release. Ahmed Soliman is an expert on the Horn of Africa at the London research group Chatham House, and tells us whether Ethiopia's more moderate stance on what some see as political prisoners could brighten the country's economic prospects. Also in the programme, the European Parliament has voted to ban the use of palm oil to make motor fuel. We discuss the potential impact on palm oil farmers in Asia, with Benedek Javor of the Hungarian Green Party, who voted in favour of the ban. Our regular economic commentator Roger Bootle of Capital Economics assesses the health of the US economy. Plus we hear from Chile on concerns there from some about the cost of Pope Francis's visit to the country. (Picture: Merera Gudina. Picture credit: AFP.)

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