(3 minutes read)
- Ethiopia’s Ministry of Revenues has collected 196.7 billion birr in seven months, thereby overshooting the target set by over 90 percent
- Compared to the same period last year, the collected revenue has shown an increase of 16.2 percent
- The break -up of the revenue is as follows: of the 196.7 billion birr collected during the seven-month period, 118.64 billion birr has been secured from local tax
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Revenues has collected 196.7 billion birr in seven months, thereby overshooting the target set by over 90 percent. Compared to the same period last year, the collected revenue has shown an increase of 16.2 percent.
The break -up of the revenue is as follows: of the 196.7 billion birr collected during the seven-month period, 118.64 billion birr has been secured from local tax. The revenue collected from custom duties was 78.16 billion birr.
The revenue overshooting the estimates should be seen against the backdrop of raging conflicts that are taking place in the Horn of African country, which had considerably affected the normal life in many parts of the country. Also, pandemic had its own toll in Ethiopia. Controversy over the Great Renaissance Dam among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia is another stumbling block in its progress.
Ethiopia, despite these disruptions, has focused on its reform process. Many important economic decisions have been taken recently to kickstart the economy, such as inviting foreign investments and steps for accelerating its trade. Of late, China and Russia have shown considerable interests in investing in the country. The country is in the process of modernizing its telecom telecommunications network by gradually divesting the government stakes in the public enterprise.
The International Monetary Fund said a few months ago it was continuing to engage Ethiopia on a technical basis despite the worsening conflict in the country.
African and Western nations are trying to find a lasting solution to the Tigrayan issue. The conflict has been an irritant for the country to access funds from multilateral sources. Ethiopia has asked the IMF for a new loan as France and China have convened a creditor committee to try to rework Ethiopia’s nearly US$30 billion in external debt. The IMF in December 2019 had approved credit facilities for US$2.9 billion but has yet to make any disbursements.
