ADDIS ABABA, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's economy will grow at a rate of 9.2 percent in the upcoming 2022/2023 Ethiopian fiscal year that will start on July 8.
Addressing the Ethiopian parliament Tuesday, Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide said the East African country expects to record robust economic growth during the 2022/2023 fiscal year, in anticipation of an end to the war in northern Ethiopia.
The rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which de facto controls most parts of Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray region, and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, backed by allied forces, had been engaged in a 19-month intermittent conflict that has reportedly left tens of thousands of people dead and millions more in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. In March, the TPLF and the Ethiopian government agreed to a "humanitarian" ceasefire.
"Ethiopia aims to achieve 9.2 percent economic growth in the 2022/2023 fiscal year, up from 6.6 percent economic growth the East African country expects to achieve in the concluding 2021/2022 fiscal year," Shide told parliamentarians.
Shide also said the Ethiopian government plans to reduce inflation from 36.6 percent registered as of April 2022, to 11.9 percent in the upcoming 2022/23 fiscal year.
Ethiopia's inflation rate rose to 36.6 percent in April, up from 34.7 percent in March, and was the highest in more than a decade in the East African country, according to the latest data released by Ethiopia's Central Statistical Agency (CSA).
The combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts in various parts of Ethiopia and climate change induced drought conditions in southern and eastern Ethiopia have largely thwarted the Ethiopian government's ongoing efforts to stem the galloping cost of living in the country.
The Ethiopia Minister of Finance also said his government will give special attention to debt repayments, rebuilding of devastated infrastructures, as well as delivery of humanitarian aid to citizens affected by natural and manmade disasters during the upcoming 2022/2023 fiscal year. ■