Import substitution salvages $1.1bln foreign currency in 6 months: MIDI Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, January 24, 2023 (FBC) – The Ethiopian Manufacturing Industry Development Institute stated that import substitute products secured 1.1 billion USD foreign currency in the last 6 months of the current fiscal year.

The Deputy Director General of the Institute, Sleshi Lemma, told Fana Broadcasting Corporate that manufacturing industries are working together to produce substitute products in desired quality and quantity.

Accordingly, 28 assessments and researches have been conducted to enable industries to engage in export and import products.

These problem-solving researches also enabled the manufacturing industries to earn foreign currency by producing and exporting various products beyond import substitute products, the Deputy DG said.

Sleshi indicated that more than 194 million USD has been obtained from manufacturing industries’ products export trade in the last 6 months.

Import substitute products worth more than 1.1 billion USD were manufactured through the ‘Made in Ethiopia” initiative in the first half of the on-going financial year, he confirmed.

The Deputy DG mentioned that this accomplishment was achieved by using only 53 percent of the capacity the manufacturing industries’ import substitution production.

He added that the sector has achieved more than 100% of its initial plan for the first 6 months of the current fiscal year, indicating that more manufacturing industries will be engaged in import substitution on a large scale.