Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19

COVID-19 has severely affected Ethiopia, weakening its economic performance. Ethiopia has experienced a collapse in external demand since April 2020 due to COVID-19. While merchandise exports, excluding gold, increased by 5.8 percent overall in FY2...

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Main Authors: Sanchez Martin, Miguel, Mulugeta, Samuel, Getachew, Zerihun, Wieser, Christina
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/672121619537898959/Eighth-Ethiopia-Economic-Update-Ensuring-Resilient-Recovery-from-COVID-19
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35550
id okr-10986-35550
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-355502021-05-11T05:10:48Z Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19 Sanchez Martin, Miguel Mulugeta, Samuel Getachew, Zerihun Wieser, Christina CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT PANDEMIC RESPONSE ECONOMIC GROWTH EXTERNAL SECTOR MONETARY POLICY FISCAL TRENDS PUBLIC DEBT ECONOMIC OUTLOOK RISKS EMPLOYMENT LIVELIHOODS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT POVERTY REDUCTION RESILIENT RECOVERY FOOD SECURITY SOCIAL ASSISTANCE ACCESS TO FINANCE COVID-19 has severely affected Ethiopia, weakening its economic performance. Ethiopia has experienced a collapse in external demand since April 2020 due to COVID-19. While merchandise exports, excluding gold, increased by 5.8 percent overall in FY20, they declined by 4.1 percent during July-December 2020 (year-on-year). Exports of garments, textiles, and fruits and vegetables have been particularly hit since the onset of the pandemic. Both exports and imports of services, dominated by air transport, recorded negative growth in FY20. Remittances dropped by 10 percent in FY20, although they have rebounded during the first half of FY21. Merchandise imports, which were already on decline prior to COVID-19, dropped by 8 percent in FY20, contributing to the narrowing of the current account balance, estimated at about 4 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment has been severely hit, with inflows declining by 20 percent in FY20, contributing to weakening reserve levels. Despite the severe impacts, Ethiopia grew at 6.1 percent in FY20, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took place largely in the final quarter of the fiscal year. Phone survey data suggests that both firm revenue and household income are significantly depressed, which points to weakening domestic demand. The adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity is expected to continue in FY21, prior to experiencing a rebound in FY22 and beyond. Further action is needed to ensure a resilient economic recovery. The Government of Ethiopia is to be commended for having kept advancing its Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda despite COVID-19. Implementing some complementary reforms will be key to ensuring a resilient recovery in the new COVID-19 normal. 2021-05-10T13:57:31Z 2021-05-10T13:57:31Z 2021-03 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/672121619537898959/Eighth-Ethiopia-Economic-Update-Ensuring-Resilient-Recovery-from-COVID-19 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35550 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Economic Updates and Modeling Africa Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE) Ethiopia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC IMPACT
PANDEMIC RESPONSE
ECONOMIC GROWTH
EXTERNAL SECTOR
MONETARY POLICY
FISCAL TRENDS
PUBLIC DEBT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
RISKS
EMPLOYMENT
LIVELIHOODS
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
POVERTY REDUCTION
RESILIENT RECOVERY
FOOD SECURITY
SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
ACCESS TO FINANCE
spellingShingle CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC IMPACT
PANDEMIC RESPONSE
ECONOMIC GROWTH
EXTERNAL SECTOR
MONETARY POLICY
FISCAL TRENDS
PUBLIC DEBT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
RISKS
EMPLOYMENT
LIVELIHOODS
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
POVERTY REDUCTION
RESILIENT RECOVERY
FOOD SECURITY
SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
ACCESS TO FINANCE
Sanchez Martin, Miguel
Mulugeta, Samuel
Getachew, Zerihun
Wieser, Christina
Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
geographic_facet Africa
Africa Eastern and Southern (AFE)
Ethiopia
description COVID-19 has severely affected Ethiopia, weakening its economic performance. Ethiopia has experienced a collapse in external demand since April 2020 due to COVID-19. While merchandise exports, excluding gold, increased by 5.8 percent overall in FY20, they declined by 4.1 percent during July-December 2020 (year-on-year). Exports of garments, textiles, and fruits and vegetables have been particularly hit since the onset of the pandemic. Both exports and imports of services, dominated by air transport, recorded negative growth in FY20. Remittances dropped by 10 percent in FY20, although they have rebounded during the first half of FY21. Merchandise imports, which were already on decline prior to COVID-19, dropped by 8 percent in FY20, contributing to the narrowing of the current account balance, estimated at about 4 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment has been severely hit, with inflows declining by 20 percent in FY20, contributing to weakening reserve levels. Despite the severe impacts, Ethiopia grew at 6.1 percent in FY20, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took place largely in the final quarter of the fiscal year. Phone survey data suggests that both firm revenue and household income are significantly depressed, which points to weakening domestic demand. The adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity is expected to continue in FY21, prior to experiencing a rebound in FY22 and beyond. Further action is needed to ensure a resilient economic recovery. The Government of Ethiopia is to be commended for having kept advancing its Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda despite COVID-19. Implementing some complementary reforms will be key to ensuring a resilient recovery in the new COVID-19 normal.
format Report
author Sanchez Martin, Miguel
Mulugeta, Samuel
Getachew, Zerihun
Wieser, Christina
author_facet Sanchez Martin, Miguel
Mulugeta, Samuel
Getachew, Zerihun
Wieser, Christina
author_sort Sanchez Martin, Miguel
title Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
title_short Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
title_full Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
title_fullStr Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Ethiopia Economic Update, No. 8 : Ensuring Resilient Recovery from COVID-19
title_sort ethiopia economic update, no. 8 : ensuring resilient recovery from covid-19
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/672121619537898959/Eighth-Ethiopia-Economic-Update-Ensuring-Resilient-Recovery-from-COVID-19
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35550
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