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Oil
Price, inflation critical challenges: Minister
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(July 4,2008) - Increasing
oil price coupled rising inflationary pressure are among the most
critical and immediate challenges standing on the way on the country's
economic growth, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Sofian
Ahmed said on Thursday.
These challenges the country faces may have a far reaching implication
in maintaining the growth momentum achieved during the last five years,
Sofian told economists converged for the Sixth International Conference
on the Ethiopian Economy that kicked off Thursday at the United Nations
Conference Centre.
The minister said that "on top of our medium and long-term challenges"
oil price shock and inflationary pressure-aggravated by the former-
have become the order of the day, which the country has to deal with.
"We believe that both demand pressures and structural factors
compounded by external factors have contributed to the high inflationary
situation being observed during the last three years," he said
referring to rising food prices in the case of Ethiopia.
Sufian admitted that the urban poor are hardly hit by the increasing
inflationary pressure driven by food inflation.
He said the government was fully aware of the dangers of this inflationary
pressure and has taken a number of measures-both short and long term-
to curb the problem.
"While the short term measures are believed to help in minimizing
the intensity of the problem, we believe that the long term solution
will help increase productivity across all economic sectors, particularly
that of the small holder farmers," he said.
The minister noted that more in-depth research and analytical works
have to be done needs to be undertaken in a more systematic and structured
manner to "enable us properly understand economic ills for informed
decision making,"
Organized by the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA), the Six International
Conference on the Ethiopian Economy now being held from 3 to 5, at
the United Nations Conference Center (UNCC) in Addis Ababa expected
to touch a wide expanse of the national economy.
"I hope EEA could live up to this expectation if it maintains
its independence and integrity as a professional association,"
he concluded calling for the professionals in general and the association,
EEA, in particular to directly mobilize efforts in identifying and
understanding current and potential problems in meeting the MDGs.
More than 70 papers covering a wide range of the national economy
would be presented in the three days conference, together with a number
of panel discussions relating to critical policy and implementation
issues that are expected to be discussed and debated up on.
The Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) was established on 25 November
1991 at the end of the First Annual Conference on the Ethiopian Economy
which was organized by the Department of Economics of the Addis Ababa
University (AAU) in collaboration with the Institute of Development
Research of the AAU and sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung of Germany
(FES).
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