Addis Ababa, October 24, 2025 (FMC) — Ethiopia recorded robust economic performance in the first quarter of the 2025/26 fiscal year (2018 Ethiopian calendar), with significant achievements in job creation, sectoral production, and revenue mobilization, according to the Minister of Planning and Development, Ms. Fitsum Assefa (PhD).
In her report on the Council of Ministers’ 100-day macroeconomic performance review, the Minister highlighted that a total of 671,589 job opportunities were created during the quarter, both domestically and abroad. Of these, 535,000 jobs were domestic employment, including 186,000 in agriculture, 122,000 in industry, and 227,000 in services. Meanwhile, 136,589 overseas employment opportunities were facilitated.
Ms. Fitsum emphasized that skill-based training played a critical role in these achievements, noting that over 659,000 short-term skill development programs were provided across various sectors to enhance employability.
On the production side, the Minister reported that the agricultural sector performed effectively, with 242 million quintals of output collected, of which 74.73 percent came from crops.
She highlighted that smallholder farmers are currently cultivating 12.3 million hectares under cluster farming, and that the composition of agricultural production is gradually shifting to include increased meat and milk output as well as expanding access to new markets. A total of 26.32 million hectares of land have been sown this year, including 23.5 million hectares for crops and 2.45 million hectares for horticulture.
In terms of national revenue, the Minister stated that 323 billion birr was collected in the first quarter — a 112 percent increase compared to the same period last year, when revenue reached 152 billion birr. She added that $1.2 billion was collected from gold and $763 million from coffee.
Remittance flows totaled $2.3 billion, while foreign direct investment reached $961 million. Total deposits in the financial sector reached 3.73 trillion birr, and lending to key sectors continued to expand at unprecedented rates.
The Minister also underlined that Ethiopia’s macro-economic performance confirms the country’s structural transformation is on the right track. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the economy grew by 9.2 percent, with agriculture expanding by 7.3 percent, industry by 13 percent, and services by 7.5 percent.
The economy’s total size reached 15.1 trillion birr, with the industrial sector showing the fastest growth.
Looking ahead, Ms. Fitsum projected that Ethiopia’s economy will grow by 10.2 percent in 2025/26, driven by ongoing reform efforts, investment promotion, and sectoral development programs. She highlighted key initiatives such as trade expansion, digitalization, the Mesob one-stop service centers, the Bounty of the Basket (YeLemat Trufat) program, and the ‘Made in Ethiopia’ movement as critical to sustaining growth.
The Minister stressed the importance of strengthening private-public cooperation, increasing productivity, attracting large-scale investments, and expanding development finance. For instance, the lending ceiling for commercial banks was increased from 18 to 24 percent, and the 20 percent treasury bond purchase requirement for banks was eliminated.
Ms. Fitsum concluded that real results were recorded across all sectors during the first quarter, confirming Ethiopia’s rapid pace of economic structural transformation and reinforcing confidence in the projected growth trajectory.