Ethiopia to sustain double digit economic growth for over two decades, says Special Economic Advisor to UNSG
ell poised to sustain double digit economic growth for the coming more than two decades.In an exclusive interview with WIC before his departure to New York yesterday, the Special Economic Advisor to UN Secretary General (UNSG) and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University said Ethiopia’s 11 or 12 percent economic development year after year is among some of the fastest on earth.
Ethiopia’s phenomenal economic growth ignited by the combination of the good policies, private investment and conducive global conditions is manifested across the country, where there is construction of many new buildings and roads, farmers making a lot of money, and the country exporting a lot of new crops, Professor Jeffrey Sachs added.
According to him, Ethiopia is thus comfortably hovering to maintain about 12 percent economic growth for the coming more than 20 successive years provided the world is in positive terms.
Asked what international financial and aid institutions as well donor countries should do to contribute to Ethiopia’s economy, the professor said he has been frequently advising those bodies for years that “Ethiopia needs investments in roads, in powers, in schools and in clinics.”
“This kind of investment is the essence of building a base for sustainable long term economic development,” he reiterated.
According to Professor Sachs, donor countries have not fulfilled their commitments to double aid to Africa by the year 2010. Ethiopia needs such funds now “to make these investments so that the economy can achieve a big increase in the future,” he stressed.
Commenting on Ethiopia’s Agriculture Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) Economic Policy, the UNSG Special Economic Advisor said “this is a good strategy that has been followed right now which is why the economic growth rate is consistently above 10 percent per year.”
He finally stated that Ethiopia can “attract large scale foreign investments across many sectors; but primarily in agriculture where there are opportunities to open lands for new value agricultural commodities, agro-processing, textile, leather good, food processing and exporting industries where Ethiopia could be major producer to the Middle East for instance which has a lot of money right now.”
Professor Sachs was in Ethiopia for a five-day visit where he met Prime Minster Meles Zenawi, Deputy PM and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Addisu Leggese as well as Health Minister Dr. Tewodros Adhanom.
