A number of economic development indicators show that Ethiopia can register 7.9 Percent economic growth over the current fiscal year, Minister of Planning and Development, Fitsum Assefa disclosed.
The Minister briefed the media today on economic development performance of the country over the last 9 months.
Fitsum talked about the state of the macro economic development, performances on infrastructure development, public participation and inclusiveness, achievements registered on the implementation of homegrown economic development plan and on general monitoring and evaluation conducted over the fiscal year.
The Minister delivered an extensive briefing on macro-economic development in agriculture, industry and service sectors and noted that substantial growth has been registered in the sectors during the stated period of the fiscal year.
Fisum indicated that the crop production obtained during the stated period shows an increment of more than 100 million quintals compared to the previous year same period.
Achievements registered in Yelemat Trufat Campaign have rendered greater contributions in enhancing production and productivity in the livestock resources development sector, the Minister said.
She added that more than 2 billion liters of milk, 1.4 billion eggs, 200,000 tons of meat and 110,000 tons of honey have been produced over a period of 9 months.
She added that compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, the agriculture sector has shown improved performance this indicates the country will be able to attain target set to deliver 7.9 percent economic growth during the current Ethiopian fiscal year.
The productivity level of the industry sector has reached 56 percent while improvements have been made in supply of input, effective and efficient use of energy resources and expanded delivery of loans, the Minister noted.
The Minister said that the service sector, particularly the export–import component, transportation services, tourism and digitalization of the economy and other sectors have registered more accomplishments while the Ethiopian Airlines Group has shown 25 percent growth compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year
Gross Inflation level has been reduced to 23.3 percent but the fact that inflation on food items has stood at 27 percent shows that more is to be done, it was learnt.
The Minister said that over the last 9 month a total of 374 billion Birr revenue has been collected with 15 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.
The government has expended 495 billion Birr over the past nine months of the fiscal year showing an increase of 8 percent compared to same period last year.
She also mentioned that 2.5 billion US dollar has been earned from commodity exports while 5.8 billion dollar was earned from the external service delivery.
According to the minister, a 4 trillion Birr digital transaction has been conducted over the past nine months.
Considering the overall growth being registered in various sectors of key macro economy indicators the country will be able to attain the 7.95 percent economic growth forecast over the current fiscal year, the Minister added.
The minister indicated that unemployment, inflation and vulnerability to foreign debts have been some of the major challenges in the macro-economic development.