Prime minister Abiy Ahmed said Monday, Ethiopia’s export has shown a 13 percent increase this year mainly because of coronavirus.
In a live broadcasted response to the question from the parliament, the prime minister was optimistic about the current global pandemic. He mentioned It as good news for the export industry of the country.
The fact that countries worldwide faced difficulty in the production of export items, brought a new opportunity for Africa’s second-most populous country.
According to Abiy, in the past ten months, Ethiopia had generated more than 1.1 billion USD from the exports of coffee, flowers, and meat.
“Coronavirus is the reason for the increase in our export income. Most countries faced difficulty in production [due to Covid-19] and we used that opportunity to increase export,” Abiy said.
Ethiopian government planned a nine percent growth at the start of the calendar year. Although the pandemic brought economic challenges, the prime minister said the country will still have a “six percent growth.” while the World Bank expects three percent.
Moreover, the prime minister said that the country managed to store $27 million worth of gold to the National Bank reserve within ten months which is a 14 percent plus.
Ethiopia has also saved millions of dollars as the demand for fuel imports decreased because of coronavirus. Whereas, the import of medicines and fertilizers has increased.
On the other hand, the pandemic devastated other sectors such as tourism by blocking travel to the country. The capital Addis Ababa, one of the leading diplomatic cities in the world used to generate income from Conference tourism which has been flourishing since multiple international and continental conferences were held in the city.
In addition, remittance from Ethiopian migrants worldwide, one of the sources of income has also declined badly as unemployment in most countries has increased.
“Coronavirus brought both hope and risk economically,” Abiy told the parliament. The prime minister is confident that in the post-COVID the tourism industry will generate higher income to the country as multiple projects in Addis Ababa are completed next year.
