BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
The queries on economy and inflation, now a day, have drawn the attention of every nation in the world. Various unrests around the globe put millions of lives into danger and unable to survive. In many scenarios, the developed world has been struggling with energy price hick. African countries also have been going through political, economical, and social challenges which caused mainly by economic unrest.
In the Ethiopian context, it is true that the nation has been under pressure due to the war that broke out two years ago in the northern part of the country. However, with all those pressures and unfair treatments from various corners, the nation has continued to move on the right tracks of economic success.
Recently, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has reported the nation’s economic achievements in the last fiscal year to the House of Peoples Representatives. He mentioned that the ongoing projects in various parts of the country will bring economic dividend to citizens. The Prime Minister also noted that the nation could coup up with the challenges pervasive in many sectors and unleashes its potential to keep up the witnessed economic progress.
The anomalies witnessed in the macro economy such as poor export performance, shortage of hard currency, unemployment and local and foreign debts remain as challenges hence, to overcome the problems short and long term plans have been implementing. Likewise, in order to get better advantages decisive actions must be taken by the government and the stakeholders. It is important to remember that both public and private sectors have equal contributions in terms bringing overall prosperity of a nation.
In this regard, the government has taken tangible and striking decisions that can accommodate the private sector to engage in various sectors. Law with regard to local and foreign investments is improved and new instruction also introduced to bring foreign financial institutions and to operate here. Every path has its own up and downs until it meets its objectives. Bringing the economy to the right direction needs tireless actions.
In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA), State Minister of Finance, Eyob Tekalign (PhD) stated different points regarding the economic activities of the country and how the government responds to the critical issues that hurdles the progress. He disclosed that, Ethiopia has built a resilient economy which shows its capacity to overcome the problems that it faced. Though the challenges are rampant, the country has not stopped registering economic progress. Currently the per capita income of citizens has reached to 1,212 USD and think thank groups proved that Ethiopia has the largest economy in East Africa and the 3rd largest in Sub- Saharan Africa.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also corroborated that according to the World Bank report, in 2014 Ethiopian fiscal year, the value of the nation economy has reached to 3.16 trillion birr which is equivalent to 126.7 billion USD. It is surprising that how hard it was for the poor agrarian country such as Ethiopia to reach even 100 billion USD in the past. The Premier said this figure could be raised and expected more if the government forces farmers to pay taxes like other African countries and it is hard to identify the transaction.
The state minister also stressed that the registered economic progress mainly attributed to the agriculture sector. The government has been implementing winter wheat farming which put the country in the list of countries that are exporting the crop.
In his report to the House of Peoples Representative, the Prime Minister said that, “Agriculture sector has registered 6.1 % growth last year. Wheat production has shown tangible progress in different parts of the country.”
Other crops also contributed for the sector’s growth. As to him, the rice production in Amhara Regional State should be expanded to other regions so that the nation will stop importing the product. In this Meher season, it is expected that 8 million quintals of rice will be produced nation widely. In addition, the maize production has also scored better. Not only wheat, rice and maize but fruit production has also shown promising growth. The Prime Minister also mentioned coffee production and its expected growth in the coming years.
State Minister Eyob also noted that the government has crafted comprehensive economic policies and meticulous leadership has been in place which made various projects to be completed in their time duration. He also stated that the government has been subsidizing sectors that are given priority and decided not to allocate hard currency for the importation of luxury items because they put pressure on other sectors which are badly needed foreign currency for the importation of inputs.
“The government has made 500 types of agricultural inputs tax-free and worked to improve the sector national capacity. The government does not only support the agriculture and service sector, but it has also tried to provide basic goods to the lower segment of the society in the subsidized price. ”said Eyob.
The Planning and Development Minister Fitsum Assefa (PhD) has similar views. As to her, global and internal challenges including the war in the northern part of the country, drought, and the COVID-19 pandemic put hurdles on the economic progress. The sanction imposed by multi- national financial institutions in relation to the war also brought a negative consequence.
Even though the nation has been under numerous pressures, it was possible to register a 6.4 % economic growth. The agriculture and service sectors along with other sectors have been contributing their share for the growth, the minister disclosed.
Particularly, the huge amount of hard currency garnered by the Ethiopian Airlines in the last budget year has helped the nation to recover from economic shekel posed by the pandemic and war.
However, Fitsum did not deny that, the major challenges the nation faced. She said that the country is still preoccupied in responding the queries of inflation and foreign currency crunch. Those challenges put pressures on the nation’s economy. Every economic measure should be responsive to the aforementioned challenges so that reviving the ill economy is possible.
In order to boost foreign currency reserves and to ease inflation, the incumbent has taken various measures and among others, substituting imported products by local manufacturing, increasing productivity, creating job opportunities to the unemployed, boosting export, encouraging Ethiopian diaspora to send remittance money in the formal banking channel and to open bank account to deposit foreign currency and other actions. It is visible that the measures have brought positive results.
Eyob further added that the recently agreement of Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) that was signed between the Government and TPLF in South Africa, Pretoria is believed to open more doors for several investment opportunities coupled with strengthen the existed ones. Also, the truce would usher new era of development and prosperity by ensuring lasting peace in the nation which is the core element for stimulating the economy.
As it is known, the northern part of the country has affected by the war there fore it needs budget to rebuild rehabilitate the affected areas. As to Eyob, the restoration and rehabilitation process of conflict-affected areas needs multi billion dollars investment and the agreement is an opportunity for realizing socio economic stability.
To sum up, everything that has been discussed above indicate that, the prospect of the nation economic growth and it is true that even under pressure, the government and the people of Ethiopia have done everything to exist as a nation and meet the expected goals. Those pressures could not stop the nation finding a way to go forth. Decisions made by the government have produced noticeable results. In this progress, nation’s macro economy has played a remarkable part.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2022
