Decline in Annual Export Earnings Despite Agricultural Boost

Jun 17 , 2023

Ethiopia has fallen short of its annual export goal, having only generated three billion dollars in revenue over the past ten months, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Regional Trade & Regional Integration. The agricultural sector remains the largest contributor with export earnings, making up 78.2pc of the total, followed by manufacturing at 11.6pc and mining at 6.41pc. Despite a modest growth rate of 5.4pc, it has failed to make up for the shortfall in other areas. There is a decline of 1.12 billion dollars from last year. The drop in earnings from gold export has been a significant factor in this decline, as the country only managed to achieve 35pc of its gold export targets, generating around 172 million dollars. The lagged effects of the country's expulsion from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) have also contributed to the fall in exports from industrial parks by as much as 24pc. The labour-intensive textile sector, which accounted for close to 90pc of exports from industrial parks, has also been severely impacted by the AGOA expulsion. There is hope for increased export volume between countries within Africa, which currently stands at 14pc of the total. This is expected to occur following further implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfcFTA).