SELLING THE PLAN

Jan 30 , 2021.

Finance Minister Ahmed Shide (left) and Seleshi Bekele (PhD) (centre), minister of Water, Irrigation & Energy, walk President Sahle-work Zewde out as she leaves the hall of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) on Menelik II Avenue. She has just opened a meeting with diplomats based in Addis Abeba to discuss the 10-year national development plan drawn up by the Planning & Development Commission.

“After many years of economic growth, we still face staggering economic challenges,” the President said, standing behind the dais inside the ECA’s main hall, addressing spread out crowd of seated diplomats.

The President left the meeting shortly after the speech, leaving the platform to Fitsum Assefa (PhD), head of the Planning Commission. She went into great detail briefing the diplomats on the country's structural challenges, the lessons it has learned, and the path forward the government has in mind.

“Considering our challenges with low productivity and competitiveness, the countries and institutions these diplomats represent can support us,” Fitsum told the media.

Recently, the Commission has released the document outlining the much-anticipated plan. While it sees a different path to development than government-centric growth, like the Growth & Transformation Plans (GTPs), it is just as ambitious. On the macroeconomic front, it plans to reduce annual inflation to seven percent, expand the gross domestic product (GDP) to 10pc every year and further reduce the economy’s dependence of the agricultural sector.

The plan, drawn up after each ministry prepared their own, has been criticised for not being sufficiently inclusive, but it is now being moved by the Commission into the next stage. The agency is preparing guidelines for implementation, monitoring and evaluations. It also answered a question diplomats emphasised — whether regional states would also develop their own plans, citing that decentralisation remains among the Commission's focuses.

PUBLISHED ON Jan 30,2021 [ VOL 21 , NO 1083]