A private consulting firm has been hired to reexamine incentives for the industrial sector as earlier incentives made a decade ago were criticized for failing to encourage manufacturers. The incentives used for over a decade were criticized for overlooking the electronics, electrical, and automotive industries. Officials of the Ministry of Industry have selected Hemen Consultancy for the job, after securing 4.5 million dollars in loans from the African Development Bank (AfDB). Only two firms responded to the bid. "We're collecting data from agro-industrial parks," said Mengistu Birhanu, general manager of Hemen Consultancy. A committee of six comprising members from the ministries of Industry and Finance and the commission of Investment and Customs Commissions began a study last month. Experts from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have joined the effort. A draft policy drafted by the Ministry's experts aims to promote the tagline: "Let Ethiopia Produce." However, domestic manufacturers are hit by a severe foreign currency crunch, high prices for imported parts and tax burdens.
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