Agriculture Sector Instrumental in Stabilizing Financial System: ATI CEO

Addis Ababa: The agricultural sector will play crucial in stabilizing the country's financial system by enhancing quality agricultural commodities in quantity, Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) CEO Mandefro Nigussie said.In an exclusive interview with ENA, the CEO said the Homegrown Economic Reform is the guiding document for all sectors, including agriculture.In the document five sectors are prioritized, agriculture being one of them, the CEO noted, adding that the three key reform areas in sector are changing the policy of agriculture and rural development, programmatic reform and institutional reform.For Mandefro, the agricultural transformation can be realized and guided by these three key reform areas.The Homegrown Economic Reform is a very crucial document that enabled the sector to produce flagship program documents that guide specific programs, the CEO elaborated.According to him, any reform entails confusion at the beginning, but we can offset challenges moving ahead as Ethiopia is committed for its economy to be driven by the market.'We in the agriculture sector are determined to produce more quantity with required quality and standards at a very competitive price so that the country can go to an international trade where agricultural commodities can generate more foreign currency,' Mandefro pointed out.And when you have more foreign currency to the country, it can offset the shortages in terms of currency, he said, adding that with the current promises from the global financiers, Ethiopia is going to get more foreign currency that can offset the current limitation.'We will continue to generate our own income that can sustainably stabilize our financial system, ultimately where we would like to go in the trade balance where export trade is equivalent to what we are importing.'Recall that Ethiopia has been undertaking significant economic reforms to open up the economy, including the liberalization of the telecom sector, opening up of the financial sector, the libera lization of trade and the logistics sector for foreign investors.Over the past five years, more than 60 sectors and sub-sectors have been opened up for domestic and foreign investment to make Ethiopia a business friendly nation.Source: Ethiopian News Agency