The World Bank on Wednesday (December 19th) launched its new country partnership strategy for Ethiopia.

Ethiopia: World Bank Launches U.S.$4 Billion New Country Partnership Strategy for Ethiopia

Covering the period 2013 to 2016, the new strategy launched in Addis Ababa plans to offer US$4 billion to enhance competitiveness and employment generation.

It aims to help Ethiopia address ongoing challenges and assist in the implementation of its development efforts. The money will be used to build on the progress achieved by Ethiopia over the past five years. The Country Partnership Strategy framework includes two main pillars with governance as foundation says a document released at the launching ceremony.

It aims to support Ethiopia in improving the delivery of social services and develop a comprehensive approach to social protection and risk management. The support includes "fostering competitiveness and employment" in the country while "enhancing resilience and reducing vulnerabilities". Ethiopia's Minister of Finance and Economics, Sufian Ahmed, who welcomed the new strategy and the World Bank's effort to support Ethiopia, said "the World Bank has been at the forefront in support of Ethiopia's revival and transformation". He said the strategy would be crucial to maintain the country's 11 percent economic growth rate and to achieve the Millennium Development

Goals set in the five year plan. The World Bank's Country Director, Guang Chen, said the World Bank's four year plan "is a result-based strategy anchored in the Ethiopia's Growth and Transformation Plan", which envisions Ethiopia extricating itself "from poverty to reach the level of a middle-income economy between 2020 and 2023".

He said that the strategy, "coinciding with the World Development Report 2013 on jobs, puts particular emphasis on supporting Ethiopia's agenda in enhancing competitiveness and employment generation as one of the key pillars of the Country Partnership Strategy".