Ethiopia Registers 8.1 Percent Economic Growth During Concluded Fiscal Year

Addis Ababa, October 2, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia has registered 8.1 percent economic growth during the concluded Ethiopian Fiscal Year, Planning and Development Minister Fisum Assefa revealed.

The macroeconomic committee met this morning to review the performance of the new macro policy measures introduced as part of the Homegrown Economic Reform agenda.

Planning and Development Minister, Fisum Assefa said the country also expects two digit growth during the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year as it has embarked on the implementation of comprehensive macroeconomic reform recently.

The Minister revealed that Ethiopia has registered 8.1 percent economic growth in the concluded 2016 Ethiopian Fiscal Year.

She said agriculture and manufacturing industry sectors significantly contributed to the overall national growth as the first phase of Homegrown Economic Reform has given a great deal of attention to these sectors.

Accordingly, the agriculture sector has grown by 6.9 percent, of this cereal grown by 7.8 percent.

The focus given to the productive sectors, especially agriculture, since the First Homegrown Economic Reform significantly contributed to this growth, she noted.

After a shift from rainfall based subsistence farming, several million quintals of crops were produced through irrigation during the dry seasons of the past year, Fisum added.

According to her, national initiatives such as the Bounty of the Basket have started delivering results in this sector.

Livestock has contributed 30 percent of the growth in the sector, she pointed out. The industry sector has grown by 9.2 percent, of which big and medium manufacturing industries grew by 10.2 percent.

In this sector, hundreds of factories that stopped operation during the war were operationalized in the reported year, she said, adding that new factories also commenced operation. “This was the reason for the big and medium manufacturing industries to grow by 10.2 percent,” Fitsum quoted by ENA as saying.

According to the minister, the service sector grew by 7.7 percent during the concluded fiscal year.

In the service sector, foreign tourist flow has rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitsum added. Ethiopian Airlines and ethio telecom played big role in the service sector growth last year, she added.

There are indications for Ethiopia’s economic growth to return to double digit. For example, the past years performance, works to solve construction bottleneck like cement and operationalization of new industries, she added.