The Ministry of Finance has projected that Ethiopia's economy will grow by 8.5pc in the next fiscal year. Ahmed Shide, the minister of Finance, explained to the members of parliament that the growth is expected despite the impact of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During the session, he tabled the budget bill to the parliament and also explained that the government expects the inflation rate in the coming fiscal year to be 9.8pc. This is despite the 19.8pc inflationary pressure that was registered in May. "With the planned fiscal and monetary policies as well as major actions to be taken to boost productivity," said Ahmed, "we expected the inflation rate to go down in the coming fiscal year." The administration also expects the value of imported goods to grow by 4.5pc. For the current fiscal year, the government planned on GDP growing by nine percent; however, due to the virus the government is expecting the growth rate to fall by two to three percentage points from what was expected.