Ethiopia's Wheat Procurement Drops by 75pc

Aug 1 , 2020

Ethiopia's wheat procurement expense fell by 75pc in the just ended fiscal year, from 11.1 billion to 2.8 billion Br. The sharp decline, from 1.7 million tonnes to 440,000tn, is due to the country procuring one million tonnes of wheat in June at the end of the 2018/19 fiscal year, according to Melkamu Defali, public relations director at the Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service. "What was procured at the end of that year was utilised during this fiscal year," he said. The Service had spent an overall 5.1 billion Br for public procurement in the past year, while it had allocated 14.6 billion Br in 2018/2019. It also generated 51.8 million Br from the disposal of public property during the last fiscal year, hitting 85pc of its target. The revenues were obtained from the disposal of vehicles and scrap, among others. Frequent cancellation of tenders happened due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Melkamu, which had impeded the bidding process.