The Economist Ethiopia Summit 2015 was held in Sheraton Addis with the theme of “Building Africa’s leading Manufacturing Hub”. The summit was attended by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, ministers, government representatives, policy makers and investors represented from more than 250 countries.
H. E. Hailemariam Desalegn opened the event briefing the participants on the performance of the first Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) and target of the second GTP. He stated that the involvement of the private sector would be strengthened to achieve the target set to reach middle income status. He said that Ethiopia is building industrial parks and preparing various incentives, including tax holidays, to widely absorb local and foreign investors in the manufacturing sector. He also added that the Summit would help to acquaint policy makers, investors and the rest of the world with Ethiopia’s investment and economic policies.
Xan Similey, Editor at Large from The Economist expressed that the government should do more to further add momentum to the ongoing fastest economy. He added that the Summit is organized with a view of deliberating on Ethiopia’s favorable investment alternatives and related challenges.
Economic Affairs Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Arkebe Equbay, had a Q&A session where he spoke of Ethiopia’s preparation of policies that facilitate a conducive environment for investment. According to Dr Arkebe, sheds at Hawassa Industrial Park, under construction, is fully occupied by companies from US, India, China, Turkey, etc. 50,000 jobs have also been created. He also added that key challenges faced by investors in the manufacturing sector would be addressed by adding logistical systems for export and increasing the availability of skilled labor. The banking industry will remain closed to foreign investors in the next five years. 10 Billion birr will also be spent to make loans available for investors.
The Economist, in its recently published article said that the government of Ethiopia set out its first ambitious five year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) in 2010 in a bid to foster broad-based development in a sustainable manner. It subsequently saw agricultural exports grow by 9% in the first three quarters of 2013/2014 and the manufacturing sector grow by 11.4% in the same period, it said. It added that with a population of around 90 million, the government of Ethiopia aspires to reach middle income status within the next decade.
According to the article, Ethiopia offers enormous growth potential across a number of different industry sectors. Foreign direct investment reached almost US$1bn in 2013/2014, adding further fuel and momentum to what is now one of the African continent’s fastest growing economies, it noted.