ADDIS ABABA– The promising performances witnessed in the macro economy including agriculture, industry and service sectors showcase Ethiopia is in the right position to achieve the estimated 7.9% economic growth, the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPD) said.
MoPD Minister Fitsum Assefa (PhD) briefed the media yesterday about the nine-month performance of the major development sectors in terms of macro economy, infrastructure, public participation and beneficiaries as well as implementation of the reform agenda.
According to the Minister, the promising performance in the macro economy is a clear indication for Ethiopia’s capability to register the estimated annual economic growth. “In the agriculture sector for instance, the current performance exceeded that of last year’s same period by 100 million quintals of crop. Of the 100 million quintals, summer wheat production covers around 80 million while rice production has been registered to be 38 million quintals.”
Under the ‘Ye LematTirufat’ initiative, it was able to produce two billion liters of milk, 1.4 billion of eggs, 200,000 tons of meat as well as 110,000 tons of honey.
Mentioning that promising results have been registered in the service and transport sectors, Fistum (PhD) highlighted that
the production capacity of industries has seen significantly improved and reached 56% on average in six months alone.
It was also mentioned that over four trillion Birr transactions were made through digital payment in the reported period whereas digital loan provision for SMEs and other small businesses was said to be three billion Birr. Also, the digital micro savings was four billion Birr.
Regarding job creation, over 2.1 million citizens were employed over the past nine months of the current fiscal year domestically. Nonetheless, the performance is unsatisfactory due to the increasing number of job seekers. On the other hand, 278,198 citizens obtained jobs abroad which show a 255% increase from last year’s same period.
She further highlighted that the government’s revenue in the reported period was 374 billion Birr which showed 15% increase from last year whereas the Federal expenditure was to be 495 billion Birr. Capital expenditure takes the lion share by recording 15.5% increment from the previous year.
As to the Minister, Ethiopia has generated over 2.5 billion USD from goods export, while it has obtained 5.8 billion USD from the service sector and 275 million USD from gold export. Similarly, the country has collected 264 million USD from oil seeds. Additional 2.8 billion USD was gained from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
About the financial sector’s performance, Fistum (PhD) emphasized that the bank’s total savings has reached 2.4 trillion Birr whereas the manufacturing sector is the leading recipient of the banks’ loan and has 37.4% share followed by agriculture 22%.
Though the inflation rate was reduced to 23.3%, food inflation is still 27% and remains to be the major challenge of Ethiopia’s economy.
She said the performance of Abbay Dam, corridor development, ‘Gebeta’ projects as well as digital infrastructure are encouraging.
Private sector and public participation on human-centered projects as well as different government initiatives is also said to be satisfactory.
Despite promising results, efforts need to be geared towards increasing investment, creating more jobs and arresting inflation, the Minister emphasized.
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 21 MAY 2024
