World Bank’s President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, accompanied by the United Nations’ Secretary Genera Ban Ki-Moon are in Ethiopia for a two days visit. They are set to discuss key development priorities with government officials and development partners.
Ethiopia should focus on light manufacturing industries and related export processing zones according to the latest survey report submitted to senior government officials by the World Bank. 
The recommendation to concentrate on light manufacturing industries received positive feedback from the Ethiopian government according to Guang Zhe Chen Country Director for the World Bank in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has witnessed rapid economic growth, with real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 10.9 between 2004 and 2014, which is lifting the country from being the second poorest in the world in 2000 to becoming a middle income country by 2025, if it continues its current growth trajectory, World Bank revealed.
World Bank said expectation of both oil price increase in the international market and decline in local construction sector performance guided by public investment may decelerate Ethiopia’s economic growth in the coming three years.
The World Bank today signed a new grant agreement with the Government of Ethiopia to improve the enabling environment for sustainable forest management, investments, and emissions reductions in the state of Oromia. The $18 million grant, provided by the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund (Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes), will support the government’s new Oromia Forested Landscape Program (OFLP). This program would be the first operation financed by the Bank to target greenhouse gas emissions from a landscape perspective across an entire jurisdiction.
