Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed on Monday appointed a new central bank governor as the country is trying to tackle debt issue.
The country’s new Prime Minister has been struggling to reform the economy which is one of the fastest growing in Africa.
The Fana Broadcasting Corporation said prime minister Ahmed nominated Yinager Dessie as the head of the National Bank of Ethiopia (BNE).
Dessie previously served as head of the National Planning Commission (NPC).
NPC is government body dealing with an economic policy with the rank of a ministry.
During the annual performance report presentation to parliament on Monday Dr. Ahmed told the members of the assembly that his government was trying to find solutions for the foreign debt which became a burden to the country’s progress.
“We have reached a point where debt servicing has become very hard for the national economy,” Ahmed said.
He said about 60 percent of the loan has been used by the government while public companies consumed the rest.
“During the first six months of the budget year, import-export showed a 0.02 percent increase but the trade balance widened [to the disadvantage of Ethiopia] by 2.2 percent,” he said.
“We have been taking loans and now that is getting too much,” he said.
According to the prime minister, the country has taken $1.3 billion in loans during the first six months of the budget year (since July 8, 2017), which rose the country’s total debt to $24.7 billion.
Discussion about this post