Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has announced that the country’s economy grew 6.1% in 2019/20 financial year.
The Ministry of Finance in June, said that the economy was projected to grow 9% for the same period.
In a speech to lawmakers, PM Abiy said, “For eight months we registered a healthy economic growth but after that, then coronavirus came and for the remaining four months we faced challenges.”
Ethiopia’s economy has surprisingly remained fairly robust even as sub-Saharan African economies suffered the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, especially in the second quarter of 2020.
The Eastern African nation has been spared the worst of the pandemic, with the number of infections and deaths standing at 89,137 and 1,352 respectively, according to the worldometers.info website
Ethiopia also postponed the planned privatization of its state owned airline last week. In a press conference, Minister of Finance Ahmed Shed said, “With the currency efficiency and competitiveness, the plan of the government is to make Ethiopian airlines more strong. Therefore, we have decided to delay the partial privatization of Ethiopian Airlines.
“Maintaining the current capacity of Ethiopian Airlines Group is more beneficiary for the economy.”
The Finance Ministry also revealed that Ethiopia has earned $499.5 million from exports of goods in the first quarter of its 2020/21 financial year, and collected more than 80 billion birr in taxes within the same period.
