Ethiopia expects to earn $240 million in export taxes this fiscal from the textile and garments sector, which will receive more priority in foreign currency earnings. An agreement with the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Cyprus Development Bank will efficiently release foreign currency for transactions in the sector, said industry minister Bogale Feleke.
Textile and garment sector is considered one of the key industrial sectors prioritized by the government as a source of foreign currency earnings to offset current shortage in hard currency, according to an Ethiopian news agency report.Ethiopia expects to earn $240 million in export taxes this fiscal from the textile and garments sector, which will receive more priority in foreign currency earnings. An agreement with the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Cyprus Development Bank will efficiently release foreign currency for transactions in the sector, said industry minister Bogale Feleke.#
Around $110 million were secured by the export sector in the last fiscal that was only 46 per cent of the plan for the year.
Lower export earnings are attributed to lower exports, shortage of cotton, lack of trained manpower and instability in some parts of the country, Bogale pointed out.
The Ethiopian Government has prepared a 15-year National Cotton Development Strategy to tackle cotton shortage, he added. (DS)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India