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Ethiopia Projects an 11% Growth this Year

Ethiopia projects an 11% economic growth this year according to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi addressing the House of Representatives yesterday.

It is expected that the agricultural sector will grow by 8.5%, the industrial sector by 17.9% and the service sector by 11.5% said the Prime Minister.

Ethiopia has earned 1.347 billion US dollars in revenue from the export of various products in the first two quarters of the fiscal year said Meles while presenting a six month performance report.

The revenue earned from export shows a 21% growth from that of the same period last year he noted.

The Ethiopian government was able to raise 45.2 billion in revenue and spent 46.1 billion birr on various projects without taking into account loans and grants designated for various ventures said Prime Minister Meles.

The budgetary deficit for this reported period stands at 941 million birr showing a decrease because the government is no longer borrowing from the national bank he explained.

The rate of inflation has fallen from 40.6% last August to 32% in January because the government intervened in the market to buy and distribute basic foodstuffs thus enabling food prices to stabilize according to Meles.

The Ethiopian government expects inflation to reduce to single digits by the end of this financial year.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency