IMF appreciated Ethiopia’s advancement
Tesfaye Lemma
It is an incredible achievement for many of us and the international community that Ethiopia managed to escape from the bad days, where its economy was deteriorating and the people had entirely dependent on foreign aid for their daily bread.
The international community was using Ethiopia as an example for famine and poverty. The socioeconomic change that occurred in 1991 has come with a number of opportunities that altered the entire situation of the country.
The country started from scratch, that many analysts prophesied at that time, saying that the country will disintegrate and there would be bloodshed among nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. There was no expectation about economic and human development.
The international community and most Ethiopians have also such expectations. But, that never be true. The result after twenty six years witnessed that the country managed to overcome all the challenges and begins to build its economy. Due to the consolidated efforts the country has exerted the level of poverty has reduced from 54 percent to 22 percent.
It is not too far that, the International Organizations like, International Monetary Fund and World Bank had engaged serious discussions with the Ethiopian government on its policies and strategies and repeatedly argued with the government of Ethiopia to economic liberalization.
However, such negotiations were not fruitful as the Ethiopian government was firm on its policies and attempted to elaborate the necessity of such policies to Ethiopia. The issues of opening foreign banks in the country and the restructuring of the financial sector in order to allow the interest rate to be determined by the market.
These organizations had also emphasized consolidated efforts in raising the participation of private sector in telecommunications and power and land ownership.
Now, it is incredible that the Ethiopian policies and strategies which were faced various challenges, have resulted in good consequences that everyone who is at home and visited the country has been witnessing the effectiveness of the agricultural led industrial development policies and strategies brought an entire economic, political and social changes in the country.
Ethiopia is visited by different leaders and international organizations in different times. They commended the country’s overall performance since the fall of the military rule. The most recent is the visit of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde.
Apart from its discussion on various issues with the Ethiopian officials, including the Ethiopian prime minister, she has visited Dukem Industrial zone, which is situated some 35 kilometers south-east of Addis Ababa
In her visit, Chief of IMF emphasized that there is a fascinating industrial expansion in the country with strong of the people working there and hardworking people as well as private investors in the country.
The government has done amazing efforts that resulted in the development of industrial parks, which is backing the growth of export products produced by international companies from China, India and the Netherlands that meet international standards.
Christine Lagarde has emphasized that, Ethiopia is doing well in developing its economy. The managing director was also surprised with what the country has been doing to improve the livelihood of its citizens while she held a discussion with the Ethiopian President Dr. Mulatu Teshome, at the national palace.
In a press conference following the discussion, she said, “We had a very productive discussion about the performance of the Ethiopian economy, which is doing very well in terms of growth. I’m very proud to come and visit. I really had a better understanding of the economic development model which has been implemented in Ethiopia”,
One of the amazing things that Lagarde has witnessed is the fact that the country’s openness to people migrating to it from all corners. She really appreciated Ethiopians and the Ethiopian government for all the efforts they have been exerted while hosting 850,000 refugees. That is amazing, because there the number of refugees in the country is one of the largest refugee populations in the world.
Besides, the country has been doing its level best to enhance an endurable peace in the region in particular and the continent in general. She said, “The work that the country is conducting to bring peace and stability to the Horn of Africa, particularly Somali and South Sudan is so commendable”.
This indicated that, the Ethiopian government and people are striving to effectively accomplish its second national growth and transformation plan that they began executing two years back, she added.
In fact, amid the drought challenges and weak global prices, the country’s economy showed strong resilience in 2016/17 that the real gross product is estimated to increase by 9 percent.
It is learnt that, the growth prospects are supported by strong private investment, completion of infrastructure projects and rising of export-oriented. Apart from the International Monetary Fund, the Ethiopian pro poor development has got support from different international organizations, like the World Bank.
Recently, the country has entered a 1.3 billion USD deal with the World Bank to fund pro-poor policies in the regions that worst hit by drought and faced food shortages.
According to the World Bank report, 700 million USD would be allotted to improve equitable access to basic services in education, health and agriculture. The latest development comes on IMF that it praised the country’s economic progress in 2016/2017. It also urged the government to meaningfully reform so as to improve the business climate.
In the past twenty six years, Ethiopia managed to bring about political, social and economic changes that benefited all Ethiopians at different levels. The ground for the economic growth is the appropriate policies and strategies the country designed based on its available resources. Hence, the Agricultural Led Industrial Development policy helped the country to achieve such remarkable changes in its economy.
The country chose to develop the agricultural sector first using its huge farmland and a large number or work force as it had no enough capital to develop the industry sector first. Then it integrated the agriculture with the industrial sector that really witnessed the current achievements of Ethiopia. And, this fact is what different leaders visiting Ethiopia are also witnessing. The managing director of IFM had done the same thing. She praised what she sees with her own eyes and witnessed the country’s commitment and devotion to alleviate poverty and ensure sustainable economic growth.