Ethiopia approves $13.5 billion budget for next year

The Council of Ministers of Ethiopia on Saturday announced 387 billion birr (around $13.5 billion) national budget for the next Ethiopian fiscal year which begins on July 8, 2019.

Out of the total, 130.7 billion birr ($4.5 billion) will be used as capital budget while some 140 billion birr (around $4.9 billion) will go to regions as budget support, according to the budget approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Council has also approved some 109 billion birr as recurrent budget. Over 6 billion birr is also allocated for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. After the Council of Ministers has approved the budget it has passed it to the Ethiopian Parliament for final endorsement. Last year the total budget of Ethiopia was 346.9 billion birr, which equivalent to $12.8 billion at the exchange rate of that time.

In the 2017/18 budget year, Ethiopia’s budget deficit was estimated to reach 3.7 percent of its GDP. For the current fiscal year (2018/19) Ethiopia economy is expected to grow by 8.5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2018 IMF estimated Ethiopia’s total GDP at then market prices to reach 2.6 trillion birr (about $90 billion) in the current fiscal year. The IMF forecast (IMF Country Report No. 18/354) shows that five years later Ethiopia’s GDP will 4.7 trillion birr.

newbusinessethiopia.com