I returned to my beloved country, Eritrea, between August and September, and spent about three weeks there enough time to observe daily life up close. From the mild climate of the highlands down to the lowlands, one can sense a striking richness: the country’s ethnic and linguistic diversity, the spicy aromas of the markets, and the many voices mingling in the squares. For me, hearing my mother tongue, Tigrinya, spoken everywhere was almost magical. It brought childhood memories to the surface and allowed me to feel, almost physically, the strength of my roots.
Living in the Eritrean diaspora in my case in Italy, where I arrived at the age of twelve—teaches one to recognize and appreciate many aspects of a “second homeland.” Yet the land of one’s origins remains an essential point of reference, something one can never renounce. With these impressions still vivid, I will set down a few observations formed during my stay. My perspective is that of someone who belongs to the diaspora but has never severed the bond with the land of birth. Moreover, it is precisely the power of that bond that makes the persistence of a troubling phenomenon more painful: Eritrea’s massive emigration and the resulting demographic fragility.
The lack of regular censuses and reliable statistics on migration flows prevents us from defining an exact picture, but the trend is clear: a negative migratory balance undermines the foundations of any sustainable development strategy. The skills and human capital of the diaspora—an extraordinary potential driver of growth—are not being used as they should be. Policies are needed to encourage the return of Eritreans abroad and to promote investments, starting with sectors that require relatively low start-up costs, such as tourism and related services.
Structural Deficits and the Infrastructure Gap
This demographic challenge is closely tied to deficiencies in infrastructure and basic services. More than thirty years after independence, everyday life in Eritrea is still marked by intermittent electricity supply, inadequate water and transport networks, and a labor market that remains fragmented and only partially formalized.
Asmara provides a telling example: local mobility relies almost entirely on taxis. For visitors from the diaspora who benefit from favorable currency exchange—this may seem inexpensive, but for residents it is costly. Traveling from one city to another often takes a full day, with heavy costs in time and money for both families and businesses. Yet Eritrea’s modest size and geographical configuration would make it feasible to build two railway lines and a small network of main highways capable of connecting the country’s key regions with relative ease.
The absence of a comprehensive infrastructure plan limits not only quality of life but also internal trade and productive investment, with negative consequences for overall economic competitiveness.
The Myth of Self-Sufficiency and Its Consequences
To understand these delays, one must examine the country’s economic policy choices. Since independence, the government has pursued a rigid interpretation of the principle of self-sufficiency. In certain strategic sectors—such as energy production or the management of dams, crucial in a context of climate change and water scarcity—this approach may be understandable. However, it has evolved into an all-encompassing paradigm with penalizing consequences.
Historical experience shows that planned economies have never worked in the long term: wherever they have been implemented, they have produced structural imbalances, inefficiencies, and barriers to innovation. Eritrea’s decision to adopt an almost entirely state-driven economic model has discouraged the emergence of a genuine private sector, stifling the entrepreneurial initiative of both residents and the diaspora.
Moreover, the country’s weak integration into international banking and financial circuits—something not entirely attributable to sanctions, since restrictions on the Swift payments system date only from 2019 has deepened economic isolation. What is needed is not merely a balanced mix of public intervention and market dynamics, but also a simple and transparent bureaucracy and, above all, basic institutions capable of offering legal and regulatory certainty to those willing to invest.
Alternative Paths to Development: Comparative Lessons and Economic Theories
Autarky is far from the only option available to a post-colonial country with limited natural resources but a global diaspora rich in human capital. Economic scholarship offers a wide range of models: from Soviet-style planned economies whose inefficiency is historically proven to mixed economies that combine public intervention with market mechanisms, and to export-oriented industrialization strategies pioneered in various Asian countries.
Recent history demonstrates that the combination of a strong public sector and a dynamic private sector can deliver both resilience and sustainable growth. Eritrea, by contrast, has often concentrated state action in low-productivity sectors without fostering a context that encourages productive diversification.
The experience of other African economies that have undertaken gradual liberalization—maintaining state control over strategic sectors while opening to private capital and foreign investment—shows that total self-sufficiency is not a prerequisite for economic sovereignty. On the contrary, it can hinder the strengthening of those institutions which, as Douglass North argues, are the true engine of long-term development.
Toward a Strategic Rethink
Acknowledging the limits of Eritrea’s current model does not mean overlooking the country’s objective challenges: the legacy of a long war of independence, regional tensions, and the complex balance of power in the Horn of Africa. However, to continue attributing internal difficulties solely to external factors risks becoming an alibi that paralyzes reform.
A strategic rethink should begin with some essential priorities: strengthening basic infrastructure, guaranteeing essential services, promoting private entrepreneurship—especially that of the diaspora—and easing access to banking and financial instruments.
In an interdependent world, an economy that chooses to close itself off risks perpetuating dependence on emigration and intensifying the outflow of human capital. Only a well-balanced combination of public intervention and market openness can create the conditions for inclusive development and lasting social peace.
The strength of Eritrea’s cultural roots and the enduring sense of belonging within the diaspora show that intangible resources are abundant. What is required is for these resources to be matched by institutions capable of translating the country’s potential into tangible progress for present and future generations.
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Bibliography
Asmerom, Kidane. Eritrea’s Political Economy: Nationalism and Development. London: Routledge, 2020.
Clapham, Christopher. The Horn of Africa: State Formation and Decay. London: Hurst, 2017.
North, Douglass C. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Tronvoll, Kjetil, and Daniel R. Mekonnen. The African Garrison State: Human Rights and Political Development in Eritrea. Woodbridge: James Currey, 2014.
World Bank. Eritrea Country Economic Memorandum: Shaping the Future. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022.
