Ethiopia earned 121.9 million U.S. dollars from industrial parks exports during the last nine months of the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2022/2023 which started in July 8, the Industry Park Development Corporation (IPDC) disclosed earlier this month. Ethiopia had planned to earn 156 million U.S. dollars during this period.
The nine months’ export earnings from industrial parks achieved only 78 percent of stated export revenue targets.
On the other hand, IPDC disclosed more than 36,800 citizens have so far got job opportunities in 11 industrial parks and in Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone.
Ethiopia has been struggling to meet official export revenue targets from Industrial Parks ever since the country was suspended from the U.S. free trade program, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in late 2021. Ethiopia’s suspension from AGOA has continued up to the present time.
AGOA launched in 2000, is a free trade pact that allows duty free export access to the U.S. market to products from Sub-Saharan African countries.
The administration of U.S. President John Biden suspended Ethiopia from the program in December 2021, citing allegations of gross human rights abuses in the northern Ethiopia war.
Despite, the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signing a peace agreement in November 2022, the U.S. government hasn’t given any indications so far it plans to reinstate Ethiopia’s AGOA privileges in 2023.
