Manufacturing Exports Generate $500m Despite Trade Restrictions

Jul 17 , 2022

The export of manufactured goods brought in half a billion dollars of revenues in the financial year ended this month, according to the Ministry of Industry. It is over 100 million dollars more than what manufacturers brought in the year prior. The manufacturing sector has been among the hardest hit by the foreign currency crunch, leading to a shortage of raw materials. The predicament has pushed manufacturing industries' average capacity utilisation rate below 30pc. In recent years, more than two dozen factories have been forced to close their doors. The revenues come despite Washington's decision to debar Ethiopia from the African Growth & Opportunities Act (AGOA) – a preferential trade regime that allows eligible countries to export goods duty and quota-free to the American market. The textile industry was the primary beneficiary of AGOA. Ethiopia generated 240 million dollars two years ago, exporting under AGOA, representing 40pc of the total shipments the country sent to the US. Sandokan Debebe, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Industrial Parks Development Corporation, disclosed last week the federal government submitted a formal request to President Biden’s Administration to reinstate Ethiopia under the AGOA privileges.