BY STAFF REPOTER
Yesterday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had a discussion with members of the parliament. During the discussion, the Prime Minister has reported the economic and political performance of the nation within the last three years.
The Prime Minister indicated that throughout the last three years, the nation had been working aggressively to boost the economy of the nation. Despite the political stability, COVID-19 and the locusts, the nation has registered a positive economic growth.
As part of its strategy, the government is working aggressively to minimize national debt burden. The nation is among those African countries with higher debt burden. However, this debt figure, which was 37.6 percent three years ago, has now become 26.8 percent. This is a good indication that the nation would have a chance to have access to international debt in the future.
According to the report of the Prime Minister, despite all the challenges, the past eight years have seen economic performance. The export sector is a good indication to this. This year`s export performance cannot be compared to the previous 20 year’s performance.
For this budget year, the sector has seen 21 percent growth within the past 8 months. This growth was achieved while the nation was struggling with the challenges of Coronavirus, political unrest and the locusts.
However, due to the commitment of the government and the attention given to the sector, positive results are witnessed in the sector. The gold mine, in this regard, had a great contribution to the sector and its share has increased by double fold.
As to the Prime Minister, this positive economic progress is also visible in areas of per capita income that hits one thousand dollar. The Prime Minister also said the GDP of the nation has passed one billion Dollars.
The last three years were also a year where income has risen. In 2018, the national income was 176 billion birr and, in the next consecutive years it has grown into 196.5, 228 billion birr consequentially.
Eight months of report for this year indicated that the figure has risen into 191 billion Birr. Trade balance which was the main challenge of the economy also showed results within the last three years.
The trade balance is not only registered because of the role of the export sector. Proper monitoring and controlling mechanisms in the imported items have also played a key role in this regard.
Due to the economic reform of the nation and the financial policy saving has increased. According to him, the change of Birr note has a significant role in this regard. Saving has increased by 15 percent. 6.2 million Citizens have opened new bank accounts and 98 billion birr is saved.
Due to this economic reform, banks had collected 730 billion Birr in 2018 and in the coming year it has grown into 899 billion Birr. For this budget year, the figure has grown into 1.2 trillion (This figure represents six month performance of this budget year). This is a good indication of growth in the financial sector.
In 2018, banks have lent 170 billion Birr. Out of 170 billion, 45 percent is taken by the private sector. The remaining 55 billion was taken by the government for developmental purposes.
For the coming year, 236 billion Birr (61 percent) was lent to the private sector and the rest was taken by the government. For 2020, 271 billion Birr (70 percent) was lent to private sectors. For this budget year, 155 billion Birr is lent to private sectors only within six months.
The above figure is a good indication of how the government has given special attention to the private sector and due to that reason; job opportunity is created for several Ethiopians.
What is more, access to finance has further stimulated the economy of the nation in various ways. The existing activities in the capital city are a good indication to this. The various construction activities all over the
city and scarcity of construction materials is a good indication of economic progress in the country. Despite the fact that the Coronavirus caused strong challenges, the economy of the nation has been improving.
Despite all remarkable achievements in the economic sector, inflation was (is) one of the main challenges to the nation and the government is working aggressively to alter the economic impact of inflation through several means.
This inflation is resulted from unmatched needs and demands among the society. Absence of proper logistics to transport production from one place to the other, artificial scarcity and economic sabotage committed by some groups is the other challenge.
Since economically poor people are the direct victims of inflation, the government had been applying several strategies to overcome the challenge.
This includes increasing agricultural production (especially, increasing wheat production) and supplying bread with reasonable prices and creating a market chain among producers. Tangible results are being witnessed because of such intervention.
The Ethiopian Herald March 24/2021
