BUCKING THE TREND

Jul 25 , 2020. By MAYA MISIKIR  ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

Considering the context of the past 10-year period, it still fell short of the 3.3 billion dollars that was earned in 2013/14. However, given the challenges of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been a cause for optimism.

The performance of goods exports bucked the trend of Ethiopia’s macroeconomic situation in the past fiscal year, rising to a little over three billion dollars after increasing by 13.6pc. Considering the context of the past 10-year period, it still fell short of the 3.3 billion dollars that was earned in 2013/14. However, given the challenges of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been a cause for optimism.

Attributable to this performance was the combination of amendments as well as coincidence, especially in the recently tottering mining sector. Helped by COVID-19 inspired border closures that had the unintended consequence of reducing illegal cross-border trade, the industry fetched over 200 million dollars, a four-fold growth compared to the preceding year. Gold, one of the leading export commodities from the northen part of the country, accounted for most of this.

But it was the revision of prices at which the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) buys gold from local miners, currently set above the global average market value, that played the significant role, according to authorities.

It has been less of an exciting year for the export of manufactured goods. Agricultural commodities such as coffee may also have not hit their marks, but they managed to squeeze out better figures compared to their performance in the previous year.

PUBLISHED ON Jul 25,2020 [ VOL 21 , NO 1056]