Most scholars agree that politics and economy are the two faces of a coin which means one cannot exist without the other. Building stronger and healthier economy is significant to create true democracy. By the same token, stable democracy can lead to create strong and healthy economy of a given country in particular and the entire world in general.
Therefore, according to view of economists, the new Ethiopian government which is ready to be established by the first week of October 2021 has to take substantial tasks to build strong and healthier economy that showcases growth of the country.
Speaking to The Ethiopian Herald, Mekonen Abera, an Economist, said that the new government, primarily, should assure the nation’s political stability in a way to build healthy economy. Unless there is stabled political system in a given country, there will no longer economic growth, he stressed.
Apart from this, the new government should stare on identifying the current state of the national economy. Knowingly, Ethiopian economy is more of based on agriculture with 40 percent contribution for the GDP. Therefore, the government should work thoroughly in supporting the sector with effective technologies and sufficient inputs with the aim of transforming it to agro industry envisaging better outcome.
As to him, the government should also focus on the manufacturing sector in order to keep the trade balance through reducing or avoiding the trade deficit. Appreciating the fruitful activities that the reformist government has done in supporting these sectors, he pledged the new government to further strengthen its commitment.
Apart from this, the action taken by the reformist government through privatizing some state owned companies has brought a great opportunity for the private sectors to work with the government in unison. Therefore, this action should also be continued to better benefit from the private sector in order to boom the national economy, he pointed out.
“Other essential action that must be undertaken by the new government is working exhaustively on macro variables like: inflation and unemployment. Efforts must be done in order to curb and control the rising inflation and establish market stability coupled with decreasing unemployment rate.
Unemployment can be reduced through creating vast job opportunities for the citizens across the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in line with appreciating the new entrepreneurs and innovators. This will directly or indirectly help the government to control or minimize the economic instability of the country,” Mekonen accentuated.
Sharing the economist’s view, the National Planning and Development Commission (NPDC) recently announced that building a healthy and strong economy is the priority issue of the Ethiopia’s new government. Speaking to Ethiopian Press Agency, Deputy Commissioner Nemerra Gebeyehu (PhD) said that the government, which will be established on October 04, 2021 has to formulate and implement various new economic reforms in order to build a strong and mutually beneficial economy that have been undergone during the past three years by multiplying its effort.
As to him, the construction of various mega projects that will accelerate building of the planned strong economy and creating more jobs for ever increasing job seekers has already started. In addition to the completion of the projects, various activities will be carried out to alleviate inflation, which is hampering the economic growth of the country. The job creation is also the top priority area that will be given strong emphasis by the new government.
Mentioning the reformist government’s successful effort in addressing the foreign exchange deficit, especially focusing on exports, he highlighted that the government had achieved unprecedented results in the country’s history during the last Ethiopian fiscal year. Adding, he noted that a number of activities are planned to further strengthen the country’s achievements this year.
Attracting foreign direct investment and exploiting the opportunities in the manufacturing industry are also the focusing areas of the government, he explained.
Moreover, the deputy commissioner asserted that the economic growth registered over the past 27 years was not depending on production and productivity. Rather, it was mainly focused on infrastructure development. “Subsequently, the new government will focus on agriculture, industry, tourism, export trade and other sectors to achieve sustainable development and build a strong economy that will ensure equitable access,” he stressed.
He further said that the country’s resources, which have been forcibly battered by the terrorist TPLF’s clear war against Ethiopia and Ethiopians, will not have a significant impact on the country’s economic growth as much as Ethiopia’s enemies have desired and thought. He further stated that the world has started understanding the current and the real situation in Ethiopia after the government and Ethiopians have joined hands to show the evil acts of the terrorist TPLF and the realities of the country to the entire world.
According to him, examining market conditions to keep healthiness of the business system; assuring the suitability of infrastructure for proper market of product and productivity; establishing a strong financial system to curb money laundering and establishing strong controlling mechanism over illegal foreign currency exchange is the government’s remaining homework. Adding that a strong economy can be built in a short period of time if economic actors and the entire public work hand in glove, he said.
As part of sharing experiences, management members of the NPDC have recently held talks with officials from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Development Program.
With the presence of Dr. Katherine Sozi, Head of UN Office for Ethiopia, and Turan Saleh, Head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Ethiopia Office, discussions were held on the implementation of Ethiopia’s ten-year perspective development plan in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2030).
According to the document obtained from the Commission’s official website, the meeting was mainly focused on the activities that will be significant for the successful implementation of the ten-year perspective development plan and sustainable development goals.
Recalling the support of various UN agencies’ to Ethiopia in the past, the officials said the support will continue for the achievement of the Ten Year Development Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
Hailemeskel Mane, an Economist, for his part stated that tax cuts and tax rebates are also effective solutions that can be exercised by the new government to improve the national economy. Particularly, the government should make tax cuts and reduction in food items in addition to increasing productivity which are significantly important to import substitution. According to him, tax cuts and rebates, as proponents argue, allow consumers to stimulate the economy themselves by imbuing it with more money.
Mentioning that attracting FDI is the focusing area of the government, Hailemeskel accentuated that the government shall create stable political situation in Ethiopia. This stable political situation also creates fertile ground for domestic and foreign investors to invest in different parts of the country that have direct significance in increasing product and productivity.
Cognizant of the fact that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the brutal act of the terrorist TPLF have been and are major challenges for economic growth of the country, the new government should bring to end the terrorist group’s evil acts for one and for all. As to him, the central bank is also responsible to stimulate the national economy through effective performance of the monetary policy. Besides, the government should control the wedge price in order to boom the economy’s economy, he suggested.
As part of monitoring and evaluation, the new government should also work exhaustively on controlling the illegal trade and traders as well. It should take effective measure on the traders who are participating on the illegal trade. Not only the traders but also the government should also evaluate the government bodies too, Hailemeskel noted.
As to him, some government officials and experts are deeply immersed in corruption so that the government should highly be concerned expose the chain of illegal traders and officials as well. Moreover, on top of making accountable those engaged in corruption, the government should take strong corrective measures on bodies working in customs’ offices and tax regulatory those are abusing the economy through making fraud.
Above all, the government should work hand in glove with other political parties, the private sectors and the entire citizens in order to build strong and healthier economy, economists suggested.
BY HIZKEL HAILU
ETHIOPIAN HERALD 24 SEPTEMBER 2021
