China accounts for half of foreign direct investment in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia attracted 3 billion U.S. dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 10 months of the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2023/2024, which started July 8, 2023, an Ethiopian official has said.

Hanna Arayaselassie, chief commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission, said on Tuesday that the commission had planned to attract 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in FDI in the current fiscal year, which will end on July 7, 2024.

"The figure is a bit short of the FDI inflow target set for the first 10 months of the Fiscal Year 2023/2024, but exceeded that of the same period last year," state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate quoted Arayaselassie as saying.

According to the chief commissioner, although there have been sizable investments from other parts of the world, China has been the top source of foreign direct investment in Ethiopia, accounting for almost 50 percent of all FDI inflow into the country.

She said that the government has expanded many infrastructure projects, including roads and industrial parks' development, to attract more FDI into the East African country.

"The industrial parks constitute very important infrastructure facilities, enabling both foreign and domestic investors to start operation quickly," Arayaselassie added.

In recent years, Ethiopia has built and commissioned a number of industrial parks as part of a broad strategy to make the country a light manufacturing hub in Africa by 2025.

"We have five well-established industrial parks and the government-owned Industrial Parks Development Corporation," the commissioner said. "The commission is working closely with private industrial park developers to build more industrial parks."

The commission has been working to offer one-stop service where investors can get all licenses and permits to operate in the country, Arayaselassie added.