The use of tax incentives has massively increased foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ethiopia, an official told Anadolu Agency on Monday.
In an interview, Ethiopian Investment Commission spokesperson Getahun Negash said that FDI into Ethiopia had doubled since 2013, reaching about $2 billion in 2014 from $953 million in the previous year.
He said last year a total of 363 investment projects, representing 53 countries, had been licensed. Most of them are in manufacturing and agriculture, with a number of projects in the services sector.
“We managed to expand FDI which will help us transform our economy along with providing backing for domestic investors,” he said.
The government is provides tax incentives to some foreign investors, as well as other incentives to a total 234 investors so far,” he said.
Negash said that many of the investment projects are not large, but the foreign companies coming to operate in Ethiopia were providing the double advantage of technology and know-how transfer in addition to helping the country earn much-needed hard currency.
The agency has been trying additional means of attracting foreign investors by quickly responding to their requests for land, basic infrastructure, and other investor-friendly services, Negash continued.
Out of 215 projects which have started operations, 24 projects have already begun exporting products overseas.
The government’s long-term economic goal is to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income country by 2023.
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