Ethiopia, UK Sign 115 Million Pound Sterling Grant Agreements

Addis Ababa August 08/2018 Ethiopia and the United Kingdom have signed grant agreements amounting to 115 million Pound Sterling to support industrialization and job creation as well as setting effective tax system. Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC), Abraham Tekeste, and Secretary of State of International Development Penny Mordaunt signed the agreements. Speaking on the occasion, MoFEC Minster Abraham Tekeste said the first grant agreement will mainly be utilized for the Ethiopia Jobs Compact program that is meant to complement the government’s effort of transforming the economy to industrialization and job creation. "Ethiopia is sheltering near to a million refugees from neighboring countries for long time," he said, adding that the focus of Ethiopia Jobs Compact program is therefore to supporting Ethiopia’s industrial efforts , while also creating 100,000 jobs, out of which up to 30,000 will be for refugees residing in the country. The second agreement, amounting to 35 million Pound Sterling is meant to help the government’s endeavor for setting an effective tax to foster and reap the benefits of sustained growth, trade and investment, the Minister stated. "Despite robust economic growth of the country, the share of tax revenue in GDP has not shown significant improvement," Abram said, adding that the Tax Systems Transformation program is aimed at institutionalizing evidence-based policy making which will enable the government to equitably and responsibly reduce non-compliance and steadily broaden the tax base. The government of Ethiopia appreciates UK for its continuous support of our development endeavor as well as for its role to promote development effectiveness, he added. Secretary of State of International Development, Penny Mordaunt said the Department for International Development has been providing support for the overall economic growth of Ethiopia. "We are happy to be a development partner of Ethiopia. We are also pleased with the achievements registered as a result of our cooperation. We hope the economic growth will also be sustained in the future," Mordaunt added. She further assured the minister about her organization's continued commitment to support development activities, including job creation that will have significance to improve citizens livelihood.