Ethiopian income from exports falls by 21%

REVENUES secured from exports during the just-concluded Ethiopian fiscal year fell twenty-one percent short of the government's ambitious $1.5 billion forecast, sources recently disclosed. The country's exports in the ended fiscal year generated nearly $1.2 billion in revenues. Although it failed to meet the target, the amount earned has, nonetheless, marked a seventeen percent increment over the revenues earned in previous year.

Export of oilseeds, the second major foreign currency earner for the country, has in the concluded year experienced an eleven percent decline over the previous year.

This commodity fetched slightly over $188 million in the 2006/07 fiscal year. Of some thirty exportable products the country sells to the world, revenues earned from flower exports kept picking up by leaps and bounds compared to the other items.

The 2006/07 fiscal year also turned out to be a robust one for the export of gold. Revenues generated from gold during the year have marked a 50% increase compared to that of the preceding year.

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