Addis Ababa, March 20, 2025 (FMC) – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) asserted that Ethiopia is on the path to register its highest economic growth by the end of the current fiscal year, citing commendable results recorded in the past 8 months.
The Prime Minister has appeared before the FDRE House of People’s Representatives and is responding to queries from MPs, highlighting the performances of various sector in the country.
In his speech, the Prime Minister reminded that the country has set a goal to register an 8.4% growth during the 2024/2025 fiscal year and diligent efforts are being made across various sectors to achieve this plan in Ethiopia.
In his explanation, Prime Minister Abiy has commended the achievements recorded in the past 8 months and emphasized the need to enhancing the current momentum in the remaining months of the current fiscal year.
“Major economic indicators have shown significant progress over the past eight months. If this momentum is sustained in the remaining months of the fiscal year, Ethiopia is projected to achieve economic growth exceeding 8.4 percent for the current fiscal year.”
Speaking on the industry sector, Abiy revealed that the Office of the Prime Minister has established a steering committee to address bottlenecks in the industrial sector. Key challenges, including foreign exchange shortages and power supply issues, have been identified, and efforts are underway to resolve them.
This year alone, power supply to the industrial sector has increased by 50 percent compared to the previous year. Cement production, which faced shortages in the past, is now sufficient to meet domestic demand and is also being exported.
Additionally, industrial production capacity has reached 61 percent, and 55 new factories have begun operations this year, the Prime Minister noted.
Highlighting the agriculture sector’s achievement and ongoing efforts, Premier Abiy said smallholder farmers have cultivated 20.5 million hectares of land.
In wheat production, 4.2 million hectares were planted in the rainy season, while 3.7 million hectares were cultivated through irrigation, with an expected yield of no less than 300 million quintals, Abiy stated, noting that cluster farming is playing significant role in the sector.
In that regard, Ethiopia has become the largest wheat producing country in Africa thanks to the government’s innovative initiatives in the agriculture sector over the past few years, he stated.
According to PM Abiy, significant progress has also been recorded in coffee and tea production. Notably, in the past eight months alone, coffee exports have generated US$1.2 billion in revenue.
In his remarks on the service sector, PM Abiy said his government must undertake two key initiatives to improve service delivery. The first is a transformational effort at the kebele level, aimed at strengthening the capacity of each kebele to provide efficient services.
According to him, this approach will enable kebeles to identify and utilise their resources effectively, and efforts to enhance this system should continue.
The second initiative, called Mesob, will be launched as a pilot program by the Civil Service and the Ministry of Planning & Development. This service will streamline service delivery by providing all government services through a single-window system, he indicated.
Regarding Revenue, Abiy said in the past eight months, more than 580 billion birr has been collected in government revenue. However, this accounts for only 7 percent of the gross domestic product, highlighting the need for improvement. Increasing revenue is essential to meeting the development demands throughout the country effectively.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abiy said his government is taking careful measures to shield low-income citizens from the impact of price inflation through substantial subsidies. For instance, it provides a subsidy of 3,700 birr per quintal of fertilizer and has allocated 72 billion birr for fuel subsidies, effectively reducing the cost by 28 birr per liter. Additionally, efforts are being made to support individuals with fixed incomes by increasing wages.
These initiatives will continue to be strengthened, the Prime Minister remarked