Ethiopia's IPDC aims to earn $400 mn from export sector

Despite the uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ethiopia’s Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) has planned to generate $400 million from foreign trade this fiscal by involving 36 domestic investors in the parks and generating 45,000 jobs. Several textile and garment companies are also part of the IPDC industrial parks.

The Semera Industrial Park will be completed and operations will start there this fiscal. In addition, more than 31,000 homes will be built for employees. Homes are under construction in Bole Lemi 1 industrial park, according to marketing and communication office head at the corporation Derbie Debele.

Mekelle Industrial Park is one of the major parks that has started full operation and has shown encouraging development in garment and textile production. Three textile and garment companies joined the park three months ago and have already started pre-production work, according to a media report from east Africa.

These companies will have a capacity of producing textile and garment products worth $4 million and will create job opportunities for 500. Two of these companies are owned by Chinese investors and the third by Ethiopian ones.

In the last fiscal, IPDC had earned $165 million from exporting industrial items.