Ethiopia earned more than $1 billion from gold exports in the first five months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year, which started on July 8, 2024, an official said.
At the opening of the National Summit on the fight against illicit trade on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, the Minister of Trade and Regional Integration, Kassahun Gofe, specified that the revenue generated, i.e. $1 billion, mark the country’s largest-ever sum in five months of gold exports in six years.
This statement from the minister comes as gold mining becomes increasingly informal and escapes the control of the federal government.
Recently, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has expressed concern over illegal gold exploration, mining and trafficking, often in collaboration with government officials, including in the regional state of Tigray.
Kassahun Gofe attributed this improved performance to the government’s effective execution of macroeconomic reforms, massive regulatory measures and strong business structures.
He specified that the macroeconomic reforms, implemented since July 2024, have also made it possible to obtain effective results in reducing illicit trade, particularly in the export of precious metals.
The minister also noted that the food inflation rate decreased to 19.2 percent from 29.2 percent before the reforms, which he attributed to “robust” policy measures taken by the government.
For example, the country obtained around $300 million in gold exports during the previous Ethiopian fiscal year, and generated over $1 billion in gold exports over the past five months only.
Livestock exports have also been one of the sectors of cross-border trade that has restarted and recorded encouraging results over the past five months.
Last year, the annual revenue generated from livestock exports was $18 million, while Ethiopia has already secured $20 million in the last five months alone.
The minister added that smuggled goods worth 15.5 billion birr were seized during the last Ethiopian fiscal year.
MG/as/lb/Sf/APA
