Validation of the results of the national productive capacities gap assessment of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the countries benefiting from UNCTAD’s programme on fostering domestic productive capacities to advance structural transformation, economic diversification and sustainable development as part of the project titled, “Developing Integrated Programmes to Alleviate Binding Constraints to Development by Fostering Structural Transformation, Building Productive Capacities and Enhancing Investment Opportunities and Linkages with China.”

Within the programme, a National Policy-level Workshop on Fostering Productive Capacities in Ethiopia for Industrialization, Export Diversification, and Inclusive Growth was held from 3 to 4  March 2022 in Addis Ababa. The conclusions of this workshop urged the preparation of a National Productive Capacities Gap Assessment (NPCGA) of Ethiopia, which would identify gaps and limitations in the country’s domestic productive capacities and recommend holistic, economy-wide policy interventions to address the development challenges. To ensure that the Productive Capacities Index (PCI) becomes an integral tool for Ethiopia’s domestic policy formulation, a training for expert statisticians to utilise the PCI was also held from 31 May to 1 June 2022 in Addis Ababa.

The workshops were followed by the drafting of the NPCGA for Ethiopia, which has now been completed. Ethiopia’s NPCGA applied the Productive Capacities Index (PCI), together with policy and empirical evidence from the country to identify and estimate the sectoral gaps. The document has identified and analysed the gaps and limitations in policy formulation and the institutional architecture for the critical policy sectors requiring support to facilitate the process of national development and to enable the building of a robust national economy, one which is well integrated regionally and globally. It has also put forward concrete recommendations for policy actions and interventions to address the gaps, limitations and systemic challenges that are facing the country. This workshop is, thus, intended to validate the NPCGA and policy interventions outlined therein. 

Considering the imperative of the national ownership of the process of the NPCGA and the subsequent formulation and implementation of the economy-wide, holistic long-term development policies, which are aligned with national development visions and strategies, this workshop aims at discussing the outcome of Ethiopia’s NPCGA and seeking agreement on necessary policy and institutional interventions, as well as the next steps in addressing the country’s gaps in domestic productive capacities.