Financial Sector Registering Commendable Achievements in Past Years: PM Abiy

Addis Ababa,July 5/2021(ENA) The financial sector in Ethiopia has been registering commendable achievements over the past three years, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

The Prime Minister disclosed this to members of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) today.

During the occasion, the Prime Minister stated that the total assets of banks have increased significantly.

Efforts have been made to balance import and export trade he said adding that in 2011 E.C., the difference was 14.6 percent which reduced to 9.3 percent.

He pointed out that the financial sector of the country has been registering improvements citing bank book holders number in Ethiopia has increased from 38.8 million to 66.2 million customers resulting in massive fundraising.

Savings have also increased by 30 percent, creating more capacity for loans 74 percent of which was accessed by the private sector, he stated.

According to him, branches of banks have also grown from 5,100 to 7,100 with 6 million mobile banking users while shareholders number has increased from 79 million to 144 million.

Further work is needed in ensuring proper loan repayment by investors in a way that enables more job creation, he stressed.

The nation has also registered commendable performance in revenue earnings during the just ended fiscal year. According to the premier, the nation’s plan was to bring in 260 billion birr, and achieved 98 percent of the plan with more than 142 billion birr increase.

In terms of project management, Abiy stated that the well-monitored sectors such as parks, industry and agro-industry have achieved better performance.

However, the prime minister also said ‘’We have experienced challenges from COVID-19, locusts, flood, loss of life and property due to conflict. We had to focus on the various unfinished projects that had to be completed. Global inflation has pushed up commodity prices.’’

Abiy further indicated that the multifaceted measures being taken to curb these challenges will be enhanced during the coming Ethiopian fiscal year.