ECA commends Ethiopia's poverty reduction endeavors

Addis Ababa, January 30(ENA)-- The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) says the government of Ethiopia has put in place sound economic policies and strategies that would help the country address the adverse effects of poverty.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, Executive Secretary of ECA, K.Y Amoako said the government is committed to poverty reduction and "we give it good marks for its efforts in this regards".

Amoako said the ECA has been working in close collaboration with various Ministries to support the country's fight against poverty.

He said the in-depth economic analysis conducted recently by ECA on the economies of seven African countries has indicated that the Ethiopian government has achieved encouraging economic results.

The government has attached due emphasis on the fundamentals of macro-economy, which are essential for poverty reduction, Amoako said.

He said the Ethiopian government has registered best records in creating macro-economic stability and reducing the rate of inflation, Amoako said.

Speaking of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow to Africa, Amoako said the level of poverty, countries' small economies and poor infrastructure have been the major impediments that are hindering the flow of FDI to the continent.

Africa should strengthen regional integration, create larger markets as well as improve its infrastructure and financial sector to draw maximum benefit from FDI, he said.

Utmost efforts should also be made to reinforce the continent's conflict prevention and management institutions to ensure peace and security, which are the prerequisite conditions for FDI.

The executive secretary also said African governments need to enhance the culture of formulating sound economic policies and promote sub-regional trading to easily integrate into the world market.

Amoako said the international community and global financial institutions should devise mechanisms to compensate those African countries, whose economies are hard hit by the current fall in coffee price.

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