WB assistance to Ethiopia lays solid foundation to country’s future development, growth: Country Director

(16July 2007)

The World Bank's financial and technical support to Ethiopia over the last five years has contributed to laying a solid foundation for the country’s future development and growth, World Bank Country Director said.

The Departing Country Director of the World Bank to Ethiopia and the Sudan, Ishac Diwan, said that when he first arrived in Ethiopia five years back, the country was engaged in rebuilding its infrastructure and stabilizing its economy which suffered from the consequences of the Ethio-Eritrean conflict.

Over the past five years, he said, The World Bank’s efforts have successively focused on four dimensions of development. “First, assisting the country to address its main vulnerabilities, especially food insecurity. Second, mobilizing efforts to build the capacity of the state. Third, working on unleashing growth in agriculture and the private sector. And most recently, working with the government to improve the sustainability of growth and ensure good governance," the Director said.

Mr.Diwan underscored that the overall intervention of the Bank during the last five years have contributed towards putting the country on a solid foundation for future development.

Concerning the country’s current capacity to cope with the huge challenges it faces, he noted that the country has a very strong pro poor orientation, and that the capacity of the state can be rated as average in Africa. However, the Ethiopian government has not yet managed to develop the type of accountability mechanisms needed to ensure that public servants at all levels work for the public good, he said.

He, however, noted that the new interventions made after the election, particularly those related to improved transparency in information, and the efforts to encourage social accountability mechanisms by civil society at all levels, are creating a new path that can transform the country’s culture in the future and generate new dynamism and effort by citizens.

According to Diwan, the ADLI model has started to bear fruit in the past four years. This is due to partially the good rains of the recent years, but also to the fact that the large investments in infrastructure such as roads, telecom, and energy are starting to pay off as can be seen with the fast growth of small towns all around the country, he said.

He on the other hand reiterated that while the strategy of focusing on agricultural growth is working, the transition to an economy with other sources of growth must be accelerated given the natural limitations of agriculture. The government should further give due attention to diversifying into other sectors like industry and tourism so as to cover the future needs of the country’s large population, the director noted.