By Sisay Sahlu
Ethiopian Monitor
ADDIS ABEBA – Ethiopia’s trade deficit for the first quarter of 2020/21 fiscal year has declined to 2.6 billion US dollars compared with an estimated 3 billion USD in the same period of the previous fiscal year, the central bank said on Wednesday.
It has shown a 400 million US dollar reduction, said the National Bank of Ethiopia’s performance report for the first quarter of the current FY that has begun on July 8.
Over 830 million US dollar worth of goods and services have been exported in the first quarter of the 2020/21 FY, said Yinager Dessie (Ph.D.), Governor of the central bank, when speaking about the reason that led for the deficit to narrow.
The export performance has shown a 15% increase compared to the same period of the preceding fiscal year, he added. Gold constitutes the larger share of the export amounting to 196 million US dollars, according to the Bank’s report.
These are the result of the ongoing reform and serious efforts the bank applied to follow-up and manage the foreign currency gained through export, among others, according to the Bank. Besides, the governor has mentioned reforms to make exports more competitive has led to a better amount of foreign currency.
Meanwhile, Yinager said, in just three months of the current fiscal year, the amount of money saved in all commercial banks has reached 105 billion birr.
The deposit level of commercial banks during the period grew by six-fold compared to the same period the previous budget year, Yinager said.
During the period, the amount of reserves in the central bank has also reached 3.1 billion US dollars – a figure which, he said, has shown a 22 percent increase from a similar period of the previous FY.
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