Ethiopia Obtains Some 976 Million USD from Export Trade in Quarter Year
Ethiopia has obtained some 976 million USD from export trade during the first quarter of the current Ethiopian fiscal year.
A performance evaluation of main macroeconomic and Ministerial offices’ first quarter plans of 2015 Ethiopian budget year is being conducted in Gondar city in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Minister of Planning and Development, Fitsum Assefa presented the quarterly performance report.
In her report, she said that the foreign exchange flow increased by 14 percent in the stated period indicating that some 976 million USD was earned from the export trade of which 426 million was from agricultural products.
The minister pointed out that the performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors has showed a slight decrease compared to the same period last year, However, she said flower export is one of the products that have made significant progress.
Contraband and illegal trade are the bottlenecks of the sector; she said adding that efforts will be exerted to improve the problem in the future.
The minister has also mentioned that 67.2 million USD worth of foreign products have been substituted by domestic products during the stated period.
Fistum noted that Government’s revenue has increased by 8.6 percent in the three months performance adding that the nation has collected 93.1 billion Birr from tax and non-tax revenues out of which 51 billion Birr was collected from income tax.
He pointed out that 1.2 million USD was obtained from the service sector, including transportation, and she said that more than 420 permanent jobs have also been created to citizens at national level.