By Staff Reporter
December 13, 2019 (Ezega.com) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Development Assistance Group (DAG) have pledged $3 billion assistance to Ethiopia.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) website, the Development Assistance Group comprises of 30 bilateral and multilateral development agencies providing development assistance to Ethiopia. The DAG was established in 2001 as a forum for donors to share and exchange information to foster meaningful dialogue with the Government.
“I am pleased to announce that the Government of Ethiopia is finalizing additional funding for the on-going economic reform of the government. Development Partners have pledged another $3 billion to back up the homegrown economic reform,” he said on Twitter.
According to the premier, the latest pledge is not part of those financial assistance which will be extended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).
WB and IMF pledged $3 billion and $2.9 billion financial assistance this week in support of the recently launched homegrown economic reform.
The premier said the money will be used to address macroeconomic imbalance and improve structural and sectoral economic reforms. “This reaffirms both Governments’ and donors’ partnership to transition Ethiopia to a prosperous and peaceful nation,” he added.
The pledge was reportedly announced during the high-level meeting held between the Government and DAG to discuss development partner’s support to the reform agenda.
The premier further said there will be more financial assistance from the United Nations and the European Investment Bank in the future.
The development partners expressed commitment to enhance the quality and use of the public finance management system and to channel more funding through the government system using the budget support modality.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia has earned $916 million in revenue from the export of agricultural and manufacturing products and minerals over the last four months.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry the earning represents 86 percent of the planned $1.07 billion but exceeded by $101.48 million compared to the same period the previous year.
Horticulture, sesame, khat, cereals, garment, coffee, and tantalum were some of the exported goods that commanded larger portion of the earning.
The foreign currency secured from the export of floriculture, meat, leather and leather products, electronics, live animals and milk exports was reportedly small.
Ethiopia’s export sector has been characterized by dismal performance due to the failure of increasing productivity and reliant of raw agricultural commodities.
Contraband border trade across and lack of meaningful diversification of export items has also been often mentioned as the poor performance of Ethiopia’s export sector.
Lack of inputs for the manufacturing companies, which often couldn’t get the hard currency on time is also mentioned as the failure of the emerging manufacturing sector of Ethiopia to generate export earnings.
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