ADDIS ABABA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia plans to increase Foreign Direct Investment by 10 times from the 3.2 billion dollars recorded in 2016, said a government official on Friday.
The statement was made by Arkebe Oqubay, Special Advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, explaining the reasoning behind the country's infrastructure spending spree.
Ethiopia is currently building road, rail, air and higher education infrastructure to meet that goal.
Oqubay was speaking on the sidelines of an event in Addis Ababa promoting the planned grand production inauguration on June 18 of the Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP), located 275 km south of Addis Ababa.
The industry park built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) is expected to employ 60,000 employees and generate 1 billion dollars in export revenue for Ethiopia at full capacity.
The exclusively textile and apparel dedicated HIP which lies on 3 million meter square of land is part of Ethiopia's plan to increase manufacturing share in the still largely agrarian economy fourfold by 2025.
Sisay Gemechu Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopia's Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC) says part of the plan to increase FDI by 10 times involves the ongoing construction and commissioning of 10 Industrial parks across the country.
"Ethiopia's affordable labor force, its population of around 100 million, tariff free agreements to European and US markets, cheaper electricity and efficient allocation of investment land will ensure that our plans for FDI succeeds" says Oqubay.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2017 put Ethiopia as the 2nd largest recipient of FDI in textile and apparel next to established giant Vietnam.
