The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has announced that Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 1.5 trillion birr, and registered an estimated 10.3 percent economic growth last Ethiopian fiscal year (EFY).
The State Minister, Dr. Abraham Tekeste, said Ethiopia has shown rapid and stable macroeconomic growth and had managed to increase per capita income to 632 US dollars from 558 US dollars the previous fiscal year. Inflation remained in single figures.
Dr. Abraham said domestic saving reached 22.5% of GDP, and the rate of investment and export of goods and services accounted for 40.3% and 11.7% percent respectively. The State Minister said the industry sector grew faster than agriculture and service sectors, registering 21.2% annual growth, compared to agriculture (5.4%) and service (11.9%) during the past fiscal year.
The overall share of agriculture in the national economy decreased from 42% in 2005 EFY to 40% in 2006; industry grew to 14%, up from 13%. The service sector reached 46%, up from 45%. Ethiopia Fiscal Year 2006 was the 11th consecutive year in which Ethiopia’s economy grew on average by 10.9 percent.
The State Minister said agriculture, industry and service registered 9, 13.8 and 12.2 annual growth respectively. He added that the low performance of exports in the economy, especially in the manufacturing sector, was, however, a challenge to the country during the period.
