The Investment Commission of Ethiopia says the country has half a billion foreign during the first quarter of the country’s current fiscal year. Compared to last year the amount declined 20 percent.

Compared to the FDI the country attracted same period the previous year, the amount has declined by 20 percent as a result of the impact of the global pandemic, coronavirus, according to Commissioner of Ethiopian Investment Commission Lilise Neme. The Commissioner noted that 42 percent are registered to invest in manufacturing, 47 in service and 11 percent are in agriculture sectors.

Speaking to reporters on Monday Lilise stated that the half a billion dollar FDI registered in the three months in the face of the global pandemic is promising and considered as success. She noted that most of the FDI registered in Ethiopia over the last three months are from China.

Commenting on the questions if her office is assessing the contributions of FD to tax income of the country, Lilise said that the Commission has been supporting the companies and assessing the contributions of the firms in terms of tax, employment, among others.

“Investment Commission will not only into the implementation of the investment projects but also the contributions of the investment to the society and the priority they give to the community where they are investing,” she said, indicating that assessing tax payments of the investments is also part of the activities the Commission is engaged in. Meanwhile, even though China, Turkey and India have been among top FDI sources in Ethiopia, only one Chinese company has appeared in the list of top 200 taxpayers, Ethiopia has awarded a few weeks ago.

During the last three months, the Commission has also assisted 46 investment projects to move to implementation phase and 36 other to operational phases, according to Lilise. Over the last three months the investments have created jobs to 16,659 people of which close to 11,000 jobs were created in industrial parks.

Source https://newbusinessethiopia.com/investment/ethiopia-attracts-half-a-billion-dollar-fdi-in-three-months/

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Ethiopia has increased last year to 3.375 surpassing $100 Billion for the first time, said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. ““…Last year for the first time our GDP of Ethiopia has surpassed $100 billion,” said, recalling that the total GDP of the country the year earlier was 2.7 trillion Birr. He made the remark this morning in the capital Addis Ababa presenting to members of parliament a report on last year economic performance and current affairs.

The GDP growth of the economy last year he indicated that the country has registered 6.1 percent economic growth. Industry has registered has registered 9 percent growth and service sector has registered 9.3 percent, while mining sector has registered 91 percent growth.

Financial sector grows

 The Premier also stated that the financial sector of Ethiopia has shown 10.2 percent growth last year. Out of the total 271 billion Birr loan provided by the banks, the majority of the money was disbursed to the private sector, according to PM Abiy.

31 chartered flight carrying the new currency. When the government launched replacing the old currency with the new ones, most of the new currency notes were already imported by 30 chartered flights, according to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He noted that some 100 billion Birr new currency notes are distributed to over 6,000 bank branches found in the country, while 37 billion Birr is deposited by people who opened new bank accounts.

Agriculture growth

Last year concluded July 7, 2020, Ethiopia has registered 4.3 percent agriculture growth, according to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He indicated that the growth in the sector is registered by the stimulus allocated by the government. He stated that last year the Government has allocated 25 billion Birr stimulus for the growth of agriculture sector. He indicated that the budget this fiscal year has increased to 33.4 billion Birr.“…There are promising conditions for the growth of agriculture sector with challenges,” he said, indicating that the growth of the sector with government stimulus will help the country to reduce unemployment, boost performances of other sectors and reduce the impacts of inflation of the majority of the people of Ethiopia. He also stated that the current invasion of desert locust worm has posed threat to farms as it has already damaged tens of thousands of hectares of crops. Prime Minister Abiy indicated that if the country managed to contain the spread of the locust worm, the country will be able to produce 35 million quintals more crops than last year’s harvest.

Source https://newbusinessethiopia.com/economy/ethiopia-gdp-surpasses-100-billion-says-pm-abiy/

 "For eight months we registered a healthy economic growth but after that, then coronavirus came and for the remaining four months we faced challenges," Abiy told lawmakers. Ethiopia has 89,137 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,352 deaths and 42,649 recoveries, according to its health ministry data.

Ethiopia's economy grew 6.1% in the 2019/20 fiscal year to July, less than originally projected because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Monday.

In June, the finance ministry had said the economy had been projected to grow 9% for 12 months ending on July 7. "For eight months we registered a healthy economic growth but after that, then coronavirus came and for the remaining four months we faced challenges," Abiy told lawmakers.

Ethiopia has 89,137 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,352 deaths and 42,649 recoveries, according to its health ministry data. It closed schools and universities in March and put curbs on public gatherings. However it allowed international passenger flights open on condition that arriving passengers would either quarantine or produce a negative COVID-19 test certificate no more than five days old. It also did not impose any movement restrictions within its borders. Abiy said inflation had "become very challenging", despite slowing between July and September.

Source https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/business/1266309-moneycontrol-pro-partners-with-financial-times-enhances-its-global-financial-and-business-offerings-for-its-subscribers

The United States of America, through its International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), has committed USD 1.55 million (equivalent to some 54 million birr) in technical development for the Tulu Moye Geothermal Power Plant Project in Ethiopia. This new grant will enable project development and accelerate the schedule to design the 50-megawatt geothermal power plant, the US Embassy in Addis Ababa said in a statement sent to The Reporter.

When completed, the project will be the first independent power project to generate power on a commercial scale and one of the largest geothermal power plants in Ethiopia, a country with substantial untapped geothermal resources that can provide significant base-load power.  An Ethiopian company, TM Geothermal Operations PLC (TMGO), is developing the Tulu Moye project, which is approximately 100 km Southeast of Addis Ababa. According to the statement, DFC’s technical development will provide funding for up to USD 1.55 million to support detailed design works for the new power plant at an earlier stage in the project development process, enabling the Tulu Moye geothermal plant to deliver the first 50 megawatts of electricity to the Ethiopian power grid more quickly.

After the development is completed, DFC will evaluate additional financing for the implementation phase.  DFC’s technical development builds upon this recent progress and longer-term US government support for the nation’s power sector, including by Power Africa, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Trade and Development Agency, and the US Department of the Treasury, the statement added.

TMGO was established in December 2017. The company signed the Power Purchase Agreement and the Implementation Agreement with the Ethiopia Electric Power and the Government of Ethiopia in 2017 and restated documentation in March 2019, making it one of the first independent power projects in Ethiopia. The Tulu Moye geothermal prospect site is situated Northwest of Asela. It is a wide zone where tectonic and volcanic activities are concentrated.

The Tulu Moye geothermal prospect is located about 100 kilometers southeast of Addis Ababa in Oromia Regional State, with Lake Koka to the North and Lake Ziway to the South.

Source- https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/article/tulu-moye-power-project-gets-usd-155-mln-grant