WASHINGTON, June 25, 2018—The World Bank approved today an additional $175 million credit in support of the Government of Ethiopia’s effort to create more jobs by attracting investments and improving competitiveness of enterprises in industrial parks and their linked domestic enterprises.
Ethiopia has been successful in attracting foreign direct investments in light manufacturing in garment and textile, leather, and agro-processing sectors, by leveraging its relatively low labor costs, competitive energy costs, and preferential market access to the European Union and United States. In 2016, Ethiopia received one of the highest foreign direct investment inflows in Africa, $3.2 billion.
“The Competitiveness and Jobs Creation project is of strategic importance for Ethiopia as it is supporting the Government of Ethiopia’s industrialization agenda and improving the legal, policy, and institutional framework of industrial parks; providing quality industrial infrastructure for manufacturing in key sectors and facilitating stronger economic ties between the industrial parks and the local economy,” said Carolyn Turk, the World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan.
The project will continue creating market linkages and enabling domestic small and medium enterprises to sell quality and competitive goods and services to firms operating in industrial parks.
“The positive impacts of the project have not been limited to the industrial parks it supported. It has also contributed to strengthening of the government’s larger industrial parks program,” said Manju Haththotuwa, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project. “The project has provided technical assistance to the Industrial Parks Development Corporation to the Ethiopia Investment Commission as the regulator of industrial parks. In addition, it has supported local manufacturing firms to improve their capacity to supply goods and services to international firms opening in existing industrial parks. The project will also support the recruitment and training of workers in Bole Lemi II and Kilinto Industrial Parks.”
The Competitiveness and Job Creation project is aligned with the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, the Country Partnership Framework for Ethiopia, as well as the Government of Ethiopia’s development strategy. The Program will be implemented by the Industrial Parks Development Corporation.
* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $18 billion over the last three years, with about 54 percent going to Africa.
