Gold, the second highest hard currency generator export commodity of Ethiopia, has generated $672 million last year concluded July 7, 2021.
Compared to the preceding budget year, Ethiopia’s income from gold export has increased by 242 percent, according to the latest annual report of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) released this month.
“This was attributed to a 187.7 percent increase in volume and 18.9 percent in international price. NBE’s revision of the gold purchase price was the main reason for higher performance in gold export,” the report said.
“As a result, the share in gold in total merchandise export significantly improved to 18.6 percent from 6.6 percent last year.”
Ethiopia’s income from gold export has been declining over the past few years generating all-time low of about $28 million in 2018/19.
After gold, flower has generated $470 million followed by chat, the stimulant plant, which earned $402.5 million
During the budget year 2020/21, Ethiopia has earned a total of $3.6 billion from merchandize export mainly raw agricultural commodities. The revenue has shown a 21.1 percent annual growth from the previous budget year 2019/20. During the year 2020/21 coffee tops Ethiopia’s export commodity list generating $909.4 million driven by 15.9 percent rise from 2019/20.