The Ethiopian Parliament on Thursday approved a budget of 971.2 billion birr (about $16.8 billion) for the next Ethiopian fiscal year that starts on July 8, 2024.
There is an increase of 21.1 per cent over the current Ethiopian budget, which ends on Sunday.
Out of the total budget, about $7.8 billion is allocated for regular expenditures, while $4.9 billion is for capital projects and $4.1 billion is for regional states budget subsidies.
“The budget is prepared in consideration of the government’s financial capacity and evaluation of expected revenues as well as spending,” said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while addressing the Parliament.
Ahmed said that Ethiopia was negotiating with the IMF and the World Bank for $10.5 billion in financial assistance.
“The negotiations with the IMF and WB are taking a long time. They have their own terms, we have our own terms. We’ve been negotiating for five years now,” he told the lawmakers.
Ahmed said Ethiopia’s economy was performing well despite global adversities and that inflation dropped to 23 per cent this year from 30 per cent the previous year.
According to Ahmed, government is making efforts to reduce inflation and that the government plans to limit borrowing from the National Bank of Ethiopia.
MG/GIK/APA