Nation Striving to Create Favorable Environment to Private Sector, Create Jobs: Investment Commissioner

Addis Ababa August 12/2019 Ethiopia has been exerting efforts to ease the bureaucratic bottlenecks that hamper the growth of the private sector that creates jobs.

Investment Commissioner, Abebe Abebayehu said many activities have been carried out to increase the engagement of the private sector and bring the economy together through creating forums which help to share best practices.

He added that the reform under way is aimed to create conducive environment for the private sector.

The commissioner emphasized on the need to create favorable and affordable surrounding for investment in order to encourage the youth to engage in their own enterprises.

The government is, therefore, working hard to create enabling surrounding for the private sector so that it could be competitive and more productive to create jobs and lower youth unemployment, Abebe elaborated.

He added that the old investment proclamation is being reviewed in order to remove constraints on foreign direct investment flow and the integration of local investors and foreign companies.

According to him, the red tape in land registration, energy, logistics, finance as well as tax collection are the hurdles hindering and stunting the growth of the private sector.

The commissioner recalled the establishment of the national steering committee to create ease of doing business, which is part of the economic reform that started a year ago.

Federal Urban Job Creation and Food Security Agency Public Relations Officer, Abozenech Negash told ENA that the government has been trying to create jobs by devising strategy .

The agency also gives financial support to the youth that engage in small and medium-size enterprises in manufacturing, construction, urban agriculture, services and trade sectors.

According to her, 1.5 million jobs were created last Ethiopian fiscal year. Of these, about 57 percent were women and graduates from universities and TVET secured the 110,000 jobs.

Sources also indicate that the Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency trains aspiring entrepreneurs in business start-up and management skills.