Manufacturing sector generated over $72mln in 1st quarter: Ministry

Addis Ababa, November 24, 2023 (FBC) – Over 72 million USD was earned from the export of 38.7 thousand tons of products from the manufacturing industry in the first quarter of the current Ethiopian financial year, according the Ministry of Industry of Ethiopia (MoI).

The Minister of Industry, Mr. Melaku Alebel, said that during the quarter, the industrial sector was able to achieve encouraging results owing to the provision of industrial raw materials, import substitution production and attracting new local and foreign direct investments.

Over 2 million tons of various industrial raw materials were provided for the textile, food and beverage, engineering and chemical and construction sectors, Mr Melaku indicfated.

The minister also stated that some 366 million US dollars forex was retained through the support and monitoring to manufacturing industries to increase their production volume.

He pointed out that the sector has achieved 86.8 percent of the plan by attracting new domestic and foreign investments in the first quarter.

It is indicated that the number of industries with market linkages has also increased.

By implementing operational reforms through the “Ethiopia Tamrt” program, the performance of the manufacturing industry has increased by improving the supply of land, working & production shed, finance and electric power, Melaku mentioned.

During the first quarter performance review of the macro economy in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) this week, it was said that the direction was set to give priority to local products in government procurement so that the achievements recorded in the sector would continue to be strengthened.