Ethiopia signs 13 billion dollar deals at Investment Conference

Ethiopian state investment commission announced that it had secured $13 billion in 'investment deals' after a conference to?attract capital into a range of economic sectors.

The East African nation, like?other frontier economies of Africa, has sought to increase foreign direct investments, especially in manufacturing, in order to create jobs for the growing population. Kenya, the neighboring country, announced deals worth $2.9 billion last week.

Ethiopia Investment Commission's (EIC) statement, seen by Sunday, said that the deals Ethiopia signed at the conference in Addis Ababa on Friday covered "manufacturing and agriculture, energy, construction...and other strategic areas".

The EIC stated that Sun King will invest $150 million to install off grid solar systems in homes and businesses within the next five-years. China's Liaoning Fangda Group is investing more than $500m in pharmaceutical and steel manufacturing plants.

Ming 'Yang Smart Energy Group Limited is a Chinese energy?firm. It accounted for the majority of commitments. Projects to develop infrastructure for?renewable energies, hydrogen and green ammonia? required investments of over $10 billion.

Ethiopia has implemented a wide range of economic reforms, including the liberalisation of its currency, the lifting of foreign exchange controls and opening up key industries such as financial services, since 2024. (Written by Duncan Miriri. Mark Potter edited the text.

(source: Reuters)