The government also said it would sell stakes in two of the biggest state-owned enterprises, opening the doors for an infusion of cash to solve a foreign currency shortage. And Mr. Abiy went to Cairo, a rare trip for an Ethiopian leader, in a bid to ease tensions with Egypt over a hydropower dam his country is building on the Nile.

I went to Ethiopia in May for the first time in nearly 15 years. In some ways, it reminded me of India in the early 1990s, where I visited as a child, when the Indian government, also faced with a foreign currency crisis, cautiously began to open its economy to the world.

Inflation in Ethiopia is high, more than 11 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. The country owes big debts to foreign creditors and the currency crunch is so severe that ordinary Ethiopians say they sometimes can’t find basic medicines on the pharmacy shelves.

Addis Ababa, the capital, is on the cusp of change. Where it’s headed, however, is hard to tell.

The population has galloped in recent years to more than three million inhabitants and the city resembles a construction site. Half-finished buildings are everywhere. The airport is being revamped with the help of Chinese investors. A new light rail network snakes across the city, though Addis is swathed in darkness for hours when the power goes out.

Old Volkswagen Beetles share the streets with late-model Toyota sport utility vehicles. At a karaoke bar, Coolio and Rihanna share time with Oromia-language pop.

Buying a new SIM card for a cellphone takes hours at the offices of the country’s one provider — Ethio Telecom. Credit cards are rarely accepted in shops. And illegal movie downloads are common and “guilt free,” as one consumer of American movies put it, because there is no legal way to stream them.

The announced sale of stakes in the country’s two most valuable assets — Ethio Telecom and Ethiopian Airlines — could be a boon for foreign investors, not least the cash-flush Chinese who have nurtured close relations with the Ethiopian government.