IMF: Ethiopian economy needs revamp to avert slowdown
Addis Ababa - Ethiopia's economy has reached a crossroads and, to prevent growth rates from falling, needs to be restructured to encourage more private sector investments, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. Economic output should grow 7.5 percent in each of the next two fiscal years, to July 2014 and 2015, down slightly from the 8.5 percent in 2011/12, Jan Mikkelson, the IMF's representative in Ethiopia, told reporters. It expects year-on-year inflation - which dipped to 6.9 percent in September from 7.0 percent in August - to remain in single digits. The government has reported double-digit GDP growth for much of the past decade, but some economists say those figures are inflated. It said in July it expected the economy to maintain a growth rate of 11 percent in 2013/14. Growth has been propelled by huge public spending on infrastructure, while an expansion in services and agriculture has also boosted the economy. Ethiopia's exports include coff