The apparel industry in Ethiopia is still in its infancy, but is widely reckoned to have the potential of leading the African textile resurgence.

Ethiopia’s nascent apparel industry, which faces a variety of teething challenges, witnessed reports of the lowest paid garment workers in the world, a United Nations project on decent work and inclusive industrialisation, and a European Union-funded initiative on a sustainable, transparent and inclusive value chain in 2019. Several factories in its industrial parks started exporting products too.

But, Ethiopia has its share of deep-rooted financial problems. The country has been facing a severe foreign currency shortage of late, primarily due to a humongous trade deficit of around $14 billion and ever-increasing external debt. Its overall export performance has been declining since 2012 and dropped by $170 million for the fiscal year ended July 7.

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