Addis Ababa, August 9, 2026 (FMC) — Stronger and more complementary manufacturing and investment sectors are essential to building a productive economy and a firm foundation for prosperity, Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh said, highlighting promising industrial and investment activities in Bahir Dar.
In a message shared on his social media page, the Deputy Prime Minister said the manufacturing industries he visited in Bahir Dar demonstrate tangible potential for strengthening linkages among economic sectors, with opportunities extending beyond the city and the Amhara region.
He cited MSA Business Group and Amaga Textile Factory as promising examples of developments in the manufacturing sector, particularly in job creation, import-substituting products and broader industrial development.
The Deputy Prime Minister also highlighted the Bounty of the Basket (YeLemat Trufat) initiative as one of the areas receiving particular attention in Bahir Dar as part of efforts to strengthen domestic food production and advance food self-sufficiency.
He stressed the need to work toward implementing investment initiatives in the city and launching new development activities, emphasizing the importance of increasing Bahir Dar’s revenue.
The developments highlighted by the Deputy Prime Minister come against the backdrop of a broader transformation underway in Ethiopia’s productive economy, where manufacturing, agriculture and investment are increasingly being pursued as interconnected drivers of growth.
The country’s latest economic performance provides a stronger basis for assessing that transformation. Ethiopia recorded 10.2% real economic growth in the 2025/26 fiscal year, according to the latest government reporting, marking the most recent completed fiscal-year performance as the country has now entered FY2026/27.
The result follows a period of wide-ranging macroeconomic and structural reforms aimed at addressing longstanding economic constraints while strengthening production, investment and private-sector participation.
The reform process has included major changes to the foreign-exchange system, monetary and financial-sector frameworks, public-sector and state-owned-enterprise management, investment policy and the broader business environment. Rather than treating macroeconomic stabilization as an end in itself, the reform agenda has increasingly focused on creating conditions for productive investment and expansion of the real economy.
Manufacturing occupies a particularly important place in that transition.
Ethiopia has been expanding its industrial base through industrial parks and special economic zones while seeking to attract investment into manufacturing and agro-processing. The Industrial Parks Development Corporation currently oversees a network of industrial parks and special economic zones hosting investors across several manufacturing activities, providing infrastructure intended to support production, employment and export-oriented investment.
The emphasis on manufacturing also reflects the government’s drive to increase domestic production and reduce dependence on imported goods. The expansion of import-substituting production can ease pressure on foreign exchange while creating opportunities for local enterprises and strengthening domestic supply chains.
This is where investment becomes inseparable from industrial development. New investment brings capital into productive activities, but its wider economic significance depends on whether it creates production capacity, jobs, technology transfer, domestic supply chains and markets for locally produced inputs.
The government has continued to promote investment in manufacturing, agriculture and agro-processing, energy, construction and other productive sectors. The Invest in Ethiopia 2026 forum, for instance, resulted in investment agreements worth more than $13 billion, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Agriculture remains another major component of this transformation.
The Bounty of the Basket initiative highlighted by the Deputy Prime Minister in Bahir Dar reflects the government’s effort to increase agricultural production and strengthen food self-sufficiency. But the significance of higher agricultural output extends beyond food availability: greater production can also provide raw materials for agro-processing and other industries, creating stronger connections between farms, factories and markets.
Such connections are particularly important for an economy seeking to move toward greater value addition. Agricultural products that enter processing, packaging and manufacturing can generate more economic activity than raw commodities alone, while creating opportunities for employment and investment along the value chain.
The manufacturing sector, in turn, can support agriculture through demand for locally produced inputs, machinery, packaging and processing services. Stronger interaction between the two sectors can therefore expand the productive base of the economy.
Bahir Dar offers a local illustration of this wider economic direction.
The manufacturing enterprises cited by Temesgen demonstrate existing industrial activity, while his call for the implementation of investment initiatives and the launch of new development activities points to the importance of converting available opportunities into functioning productive projects.
The broader reform journey is also changing the environment in which such investments operate. The shift toward a more market-oriented foreign-exchange regime, reforms in the financial sector and measures aimed at improving the investment climate are intended to address constraints that have historically affected businesses and investors.
The objective is ultimately to make investment more productive: to move capital into factories, farms, processing facilities, infrastructure and other activities that expand the economy’s capacity to produce.
The latest growth performance provides evidence of the momentum already generated by the reform process, while the continuing expansion of productive sectors points to the next challenge—sustaining that momentum and translating investment and economic growth into broader productive capacity.
Against this backdrop, Temesgen’s message from Bahir Dar places emphasis on a fundamental economic connection: manufacturing and investment need to grow in ways that reinforce one another.
For Ethiopia, strengthening that connection—alongside agricultural productivity, food self-sufficiency and wider economic reforms—remains central to expanding domestic production and building a stronger foundation for prosperity.