By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
November 15, 2022 (NAIROBI) – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday alleged that Ethiopia has managed to become the largest economy in the East Africa region and the third giant in sub-Saharan Africa.
Abiy painted the rosy picture of his country’s economy in remarks while addressing the House of Peoples Representatives.
He said that Ethiopia’s macro economy has been resilient and continued to register growth amid various bottlenecks resulting from man-made and natural challenges including the bloody conflict in the Tigray region, the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and drought.
The premier prided the alleged achievement further saying that the economic growth trajectory has impressed even global economists.
During the concluded Ethiopian fiscal year, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation witnessed 6.4 per cent growth and the nation plans to achieve 7.5 per cent growth this year, Abiy indicated.
Ethiopia’s economy reached 126.7 billion USD at the end of the concluded fiscal year.
Furthermore, the country’s per capita income has reached 1,212 USD, he added.
“The Ethiopian economy rose to 1st in East Africa and 3rd in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the prime Minister said citing a World Bank report though it is not yet clear which report he was mentioning.
“However, we do not agree with the report in its entirety. Because Ethiopia has both formal and informal economic activity, we believe it has achieved greater growth than the report indicates,” he said.
The challenges have prompted a culture of hard work in the nation, the Premier said adding that several measures are being taken to address the inflation.
Among the sectors that showed growth, Abiy mentioned agriculture which is playing a leading role in national economic development.
Agriculture has witnessed 6.1 per cent growth, he said, citing the productivity in wheat farming as a driving force for the results.
Furthermore, the nation has planted 4.7 billion new coffee seedlings to increase the coffee production of the country, he said noting that this fiscal year Ethiopia planned to produce 20 per cent higher coffee than the previous year.
Ethiopia is also working to export fruits to the international market as it has been able to register encouraging results in the sector.
Recently, the Horn of Africa nation announced that it was making preparations to export wheat to the international market starting this year.
Ethiopia’s aspiration, according to the Prime Minister is to make the country’s economy among the continent’s giants.
Despite the announced economic growth, the country’s over 115 million citizens however are experiencing the highest inflation in a decade, foreign exchange restrictions and mounting debt amid reports of massive government spending on the war effort.
Parliament earlier this year reportedly approved an additional $1.7 billion budget for defence.
(ST)
