NEWS – Planning Commission of Ethiopia introduces a ten years development plan that targets cutting the number of people living below poverty line by more than half.
Fitsum Assefa (PhD), Minister of Planning and Development Commission, indicated that the plan focuses mainly on developing agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, ICT, and mining sectors among others. Presenting the plan on Thursday to heads of regional stated of Ethiopia including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, she indicated that with an annual economic growth of 10.2 for the consecutive ten years, income of an individual citizen is expected to increase by 8.2 percent every year.
Quality must be at the center of the plan, according to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who also stressed project completion on time without any excuses. He stressed the need to coordinate plans and projects between and among different regions “We don’t have other vision. our vision is to create a country exemplary of prosperity in Africa,” he said, stressing that each region should know its GDP and contribution to the federal government.
The ten years plan of Ethiopia, which is expected to be discussed at different levels before approval, also aims to reduce the current 19 percent Ethiopians living below poverty line to 7 percent. The plan also aims to reduce unemployment every year at least by 1 percent. Increasing access to clean drinking water to 100 percent after ten year is also mentioned in the plan.
Though the government plan for this year was to grow the economy by 9 percent, because of COVID-19 it is estimated to shrink by 3 percent to 6 percent, as Finance Minister Ahmed Shide told MPs on Thursday.