Poor quality, absence of value added product challenge to local investors: Ministry

ADDIS ABABA— THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD Newspaper 5 May 2016: THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD Newspaper 5 May 2016: The Ministry of Industry said local investors could not be competitive at the international market as they have not produced quality and value added products.
The Ministry organized forum yesterday to discuss with investors and pertinent bodies in the sector as regards Ministry’s nine-month performance.

Responding to local investors complaints, State Minister Dr. Mebrahtu Meles said that it is not a problem of lacking market link rather investors are incompetent at the international market. Thus, they need to build their capacity to become competitive by improving production process and producing quality products.

In this regard, the government is responsible for building infrastructural development so as to create a conducive investment climate. Nevertheless, local investors complain that foreign ones have special attention in the eyes of the government as they easily access hard currency, land, access market link and related advantages.

Presenting Ministry nine-month report, Planning and Budget Support Director Mengist Heluf said that the Ministry has planned to create over 180,000 jobs in GTP II, however, it managed to create only 20, 019 which proves that its performance is very low.
The country has been able to collect 289 million USD out of the set 477 million USD from the manufacturing and industry sector. The performance was very low because of the slowing down at the international market especially in the tannery and textile sectors, power outage and inadequate application of technologies, Mengist added.
He also said that some investors did not engage in the sector as per the set plan.
BY FANUEL LAKEW