Ethiopia’s economy is forecast to grow by 7.5 percent this Ethiopian fiscal year which will end on July 7, 2023, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said.
The projection is a 1.1 percentage point higher than the economic growth rate registered last year.
Addressing the House of People’s Representatives on Tuesday, Prime minister Abiy Ethiopia’s said the country’s economy held up under pressure but reached $127.6 billion, “demonstrating that country’s economy is the unbreakable and will continue to grow.”
“The per capita income reached $1,212. According to the World Bank, the economy has risen to first in East Africa and third in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the PM noted.
“However, we do not agree with the report in its entirety,” said the PM. “Because Ethiopia has both formal and informal economic activity, we believe it has achieved greater growth than the report indicates.”
According to the prime minister, the government will build on the economic growth registered last year.
The Gross Domestic Production (GDP) increased by 6.4% in 2014 E.C, he said. “Our goal for this year is 7.5 % growth.”
The World Bank’s Africa Pulse October report says Ethiopia may struggle to regain its pre-pandemic performance due to the prolonged conflict in the northern part of the country. The bank, however, expects the country’s real GDP to grow steadily from 5.3% in 2023 (up from 3.5%) to 6.1% in 2024.
On the demand side, the expansion is on the back of a recovery in investment (7.2%) after a weak performance in 2022 (1.6%), the report says. “On the supply side, the agriculture sector will pick up due to improved weather conditions.”
The East African nation has been struggling with double-digit inflation since July 2017.
As per the Africa Pulse report, the cost of living increased sharply in 2021 from about 19.3% in January to 35.1 percent in December and remained steady at this level in 2022.
MG/abj/APA