PM reaches out

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) appeared before the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) on Friday July 6, 2018 to defend his government’s budget for the Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2018/19. Capital investments take 55 percent of the 346.9 billion birr budget while 45 percent goes to recurrent expenditure. This, according to the PM, is way above the budget allocation to capital expenditures by other African nations’ standards. While defending his budget, the PM called upon all people to play their part in the country’s development and requested the diaspora to send their remittance through the legal route and to contribute a dollar a day deposited in a trust fund used to addressed the unfulfilled economic demands of the poor in the country. The PM, who appeared to be assertive and sometimes causing laughter in the House, also reiterated that the countries future is bright given the discovered oil resources both announced and unannounced. Abiy also committed to subside the inflation through different measures. He also said that there will be much to be done in the coming FY to improve quality of education. Mentioning that the country needs huge amount of investment to complete the ongoing mega investment projects in the country, the PM said that there will be no new mega projects to be commenced in the coming FY. He also asserted that the government will take measures regarding effectiveness and efficiency of the public sector where ministries and other federal institutions will get into contract with the HPR and will be accounted for accordingly.  This performance, coupled with an annual report from the Office of the Auditor General will make or break the officials as they will be accountable for their unattained responsibilities.