Ethiopia’s oil import bill for the current fiscal year is going to go down by USD 600 Million, which is an estimated 21 percent of the overall import bill.

According to Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise’s (EPSE) projection, the entire oil import bill is going to be an overwhelming USD 2.9 Billion, which actually is one fifth of the overall import bill.

Thanks for the decline in the international market’s oil price, the Enterprise gained some USD 400 Million from the decrease in the cost of oil import. The Enterprise also expects this to grow as the year goes by.

Demelash Alemu, an advisor to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Enterprise, noted for the past few years Ethiopia’s oil import demand has been showing successive growth where the bill indicates an increase by ten or twelve percent year after year. However, the international oil price is going to make an exception to the trend for it has been forecasted the import bill for the current fiscal year is going ot be USD 2.3 Billion – which is a decline from last year’s USD 2.494 Billion.

According to The Reporter, EPSE’s gain which is attributable to the decline in international market’s market is equivalent or even greater than some of the biggest export commodities of the country. The newspaper furthered to say, “Some of the major export earners in Ethiopia do not have the capacity to fetch as much foreign currency that is saved by the enterprise”.

There are critics thrown at the government with regard to fuel price, The Reporter noted. The newspaper noted retail price of oil does not take into account the dynamics in the international market. It furthered the adjustment in the local retail price is way below the decline in the international market indicating unwarranted profit from the oil sector.

However commenting on this Demelash said, what should be considered is the price of refined oil. He noted the price of refined oil decreased only by 22 percent which is around 50 percent than the global decline in oil prices. In June the price of one metric ton of refined oil was USD 945.89 Dollars while now it has gone down to USD 737.37 Dollars, he explained.

Source: The Reporter