The success of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s economic plan relies on its details and performance of government institutions accountable to execute it, an economist at Addis Ababa University said.
Addressing the questions raised by members of Parliament on Monday during a session to approve next year’s national budget, the Premier expressed the commitment of his administration to continue with the economic recovery by handling unemployment and inflation, enhancing investment in agriculture, energy, and mining and attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Indicating that there are more than 11 million unemployed Ethiopians, the Premier said that the government is planning to create three million jobs next year.
The government is also aiming to stimulate export. This year, the country has registered a low export performance which stood at 2.1 billion USD. This has caused a shortage of hard currency.
Appreciating the proposal of the Prime Minister, Dr. Tadele Ferede, Economist at Addis Ababa University, told The Ethiopian Herald that the Premier has touched the major macroeconomic issues such as unemployment, inflation and export performance. “The government has been preparing such plans every year but failed to properly execute them.”
The right indicators have to be set to boost export, reduce inflation and thelikes. For instance, “What shall be done to improve export? What are the targets ? Which body is accountable for the success and failure of the plan? There should also be a specific strategy that states out the tasks as per accordingly,” he said adding “above all; the plan has to incorporate accountability.”
Appreciating the plan to create three million jobs next year, he noted that the plan has to also set out how the jobs will be created, by whom and in which sectors. The source of finance has to be also identified.
“I don’t expect the Prime Minister to spend his precious time briefing the details of the plan. But, the questions I raised have to be properly considered in preparing the plan.”
Dr. Tadele also said that there have to be penalties for institutions that fail to execute the plan and incentives for those that register better performance.
He also stressed the importance of the private sector in creating more jobs and urged the government to provide the necessary support in the process.
The government has to be a frontrunner in making sure that the country’s exports are competitive in terms of quality and quantity to curb the shortage of foreign currency.
“The government has to properly discharge its responsibility, enable the private sector to have increased role in the economy and modernize the trading system to control the rising inflation rate,” he stressed.
The Ethiopian Herald July 11/2019
BY GIRMACHEW GASHAW
