(4 minutes read)
· Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his confidence over his government’s ability to overcome Ethiopia’s overall debt stress
· Last week, his administration presented a total budget outlay of 476 billion birr for the upcoming Ethiopia budget year
· The Prime Minister informed that 176.4 billion birr – has been set aside for the states, which will be disbursed in the form budget subsidy
· Six billion birr will be spent for Sustainable Development Goals Programs. This program will be mostly implemented at the state level
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his confidence over his government’s ability to overcome Ethiopia’s overall debt stress. Last week, his administration presented a total budget outlay of 476 billion birr for the upcoming Ethiopia budget year.
Defending a draft budget proposal drawn up by his administration for the Ethiopian fiscal year, the prime minister said that of the total budget allotment, some 133.3 billion birr has been allocated for revenue expenditure, while the remaining 160.3 billion is budgeted for capital spending, such as government infrastructure projects to be undertaken in the current budget year.
The Prime Minister informed that 176.4 billion birr – has been set aside for the states, which will be disbursed in the form of budget subsidy. Six billion birr will be spent for Sustainable Development Goals Programs. This program will be mostly implemented at the state level.
On the revenue side, government projects total revenue of 350 billion birr. This includes foreign assistance. Tax revenue will be 271.7 billion birr. Of that, 32 billion birr is planned from non-tax sources. The tax revenue is estimated to be 6.6 percent of the GDP. The budget deficit will be 126 billion birr deficit, which will be covered by domestic borrowing (78 billion birr) and external loan (an equivalent of 48 billion birr).
The PM highlighted that the country’s external debt stress was successfully managed and reduced from what it was two years ago – 31 percent of the GDP – to the current level of 25 percent. The country’s nominal GDP is, currently, at 3.4 trillion birr, as against 2.1 trillion Birr some two years ago.
