ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia is banking on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country to boost job creation in the East African country. According to the Ethiopian Investment Agency (EIA), foreign investment for the current fiscal year should create over 55,000 jobs in the country, which they said would be a massive boost to the local economy. “This is a great move and we hope to continue to see investment in Ethiopia that will help boost local job creation,” EIA Public Relations Director Getahun Negash told Bikyamasr.com on Wednesday. The agency hopes to continue to encourage “more investment including bilateral agreements with other countries, consultative forums, trainings and streamling services offered,” Negash said of EIA plans. The EIA reported that they had issued licenses to 686 projects in the previous financial year. The projects have a combined registered capital of approximately 86 billion birr. 83 billion birr of the investment making up 601 projects was international investment according to Debela Habte Senior Experts for Public Relations with the Ethiopian Investment Agency. The projects are expected to create employment opportunities for an estimated 45,000 citizens when they are all fully operational he said. The investment for the financial year exceeded investment in the previous reporting year by 56 percent. The majority of that investment was in the construction, industrial and agriculture sectors. “The most favored destinations for investment in this fiscal year have been the capital city Addis Ababa and the Amhara, Oromia and Tigray Regional States,” he explained. The agency reportedly has facilitated 225 projects with a total of 17 billion birr in registered capital to become operational in the financial year by providing all the necessary support and encouragement said Debela. Some of these projects have actually began to offer services according to EIA. For locals on the ground, who have seen a rise in unemployment in recent years, they are hopeful that the new boost in investment from abroad can deliver the proposed goals. “We are all suffering and while we have seen some good jobs, they are contract positions and we need to get other work shortly after,” said one construction worker who told Bikyamasr.com he had worked on 8 projects in the past three years. For him and others, boosting the local job market will be key to helping families overcome income shortages. “If the government can succeed that is great,” he added.
