It is crystal clear that the brutal act of the terrorist TPLF has directly challenged the economic development of the country. It is also a recent phenomenon that how this group has highly damaged different infrastructures and institutions coupled with destroying and looting many of public and private properties.
Educational, health, financial and religious institutions, museums as well as manufacturing factories were among others that have been highly damaged by the group. But as a result of the reform that enabled building challenge resilient economy, Ethiopia was capable of bringing successful economic achievements while the rebel group and its elites were planning to dismantle the country.
In addition to the humanitarian rehabilitation activities, the federal government jointly with all stakeholders and its development partners was able to undertake different activities which are vital for stimulating the national economy. Accordingly, different Ministerial Institutions have reviewed their quarterly performances. According to the report, it was able to bring successful economic and diplomatic results.
100-days’ performance review forum of the federal institutions was taken place at Guba, the place where the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is constructed and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) was also among the attendees.
According to the Prime Minister, Ministers of several Ministries have made considerable progress in achieving sectorial milestones in relation to their targets set. “Our evaluation of the first 100 days, sets a direction for capitalizing on gains made thus far and creating opportunities out of challenges,” the Premier said on his official Facebook account.
On the conclusion of the two days evaluation of the 100 days performance by Federal Ministries, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stressed that the evaluations have enabled identifying what needs to be corrected, reinforced and elevated.
Fitsum Assefa (PhD), Minister of Planning and Development of FDRE, who has been monitoring the performance of the institutions for the past few weeks, presented the performance of each ministerial institution.
The Minister underscored that more than 800 million USD has been earned in the past 100 days from the export trade. Though the national economy has achieved good results at the macro economy level, the country is facing many challenges due to the war, she explained.
According to her, Ethiopia has gone through difficult times but has achieved good results in major macroeconomic sectors over the past 100 days. The overall economic and political diplomacy of the past two months of the second quarter of the current fiscal year was a promising achievement.
The Minister made the remarks while reviewing the 100 Days Plan Performance of different ministerial offices last week. While reviewing the implementation of Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 100 Days Plan, the Minister said that there were significant diplomatic achievements in the aforementioned time.
In a review of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demeke Mekonnen for his part said that despite the challenges, the country has done a great job in strengthening friendly relations with different countries.
Indicating that, it is a flattering achievement that was done by the Diaspora communities which is of paramount importance to demonstrating the unity and peace of the “Land of Origin”; Ethiopia, the Minister explained that this action will also have a major economic benefit for the country.
In the same review, Fitsum noted that there is a promising performance in economic and political diplomacy. Adding to the point, she said the country is making good progress in strengthening peace and socio-economic ties.
Apart from this, the country is further strengthening bilateral relations, increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction and uplifting the flow of tourists. As a result, it was able to support the nation’s economy which was highly challenged by the brutal act of the terrorist TPLF, she noted.
Ministry of Finance also announced that healthy fiscal administration has been implemented in the last three months in terms of government revenue and expenditure. During the second quarter of the current Ethiopian fiscal year (October-December), the 100-days plan was also evaluated by the Ministry of Finance.
Accordingly, the federal government has collected 70.6 billion Birr from domestic revenue, tax and non-tax revenue in the first two months of October to November 2021, which is 89.3 percent of the plan, Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance said.
As to him, between October and December 2021, a total of 364 million USD was earned from Multilateral and Bilateral Development Partners in terms of support and loan. Additionally, 255.6 million USD was disbursed to the country. Similarly, 3.8 billion Birr has been collected from public enterprises’ profit in the last three months.
Mentioning that 73.3 billion Birr was spent on operational expenses the federal government, the Minister also stated that additional 33.6 billion Birr was spent on operating expenses of the regional governments. As a result, a total of 106.9 billion Birr has been transferred to the federal and state governments. Coupled with this, it has been possible to manage the cash flow by prioritizing very essential government needs, he added.
The Ministry of Revenue was also among the public institutions which presented its 100-days plan implementation. According to Fikadu Tadesse, Director of Strategic Planning and Monitoring at the Ministry, 77.33 billion Birr was collected during the two months of the second quarter of the fiscal year.
He further said that the ministry is striving to further modernizing its system for better achievements in the coming periods. In addition to further modernizing the tax system and introducing new taxpayers to the tax system, taxpayers in the tax system are expected to pay their taxes better than before, the Director underlined.
State Minister for Taxation, Tesfaye Tulu on his part said that the Ministry has achieved a lot in the two-month plan so far. He also said that the Ministry will focus on the remaining tasks to complete its final achievements of the plan.
Noting that a lot of activities have been undertaking in a way to bring new taxpayers into the tax network within two months of the implementation of the tax law, he mentioned that good results have been achieved in resolving customer complaints and improving service delivery. As to him it is an indication of the overall success of the revenue plan.
BY HIZKEL HAILU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 9 JANUARY 2022
