National coffer

Newsletter 15

THE AMHARA REGION Resource and Investment Opportunities

The Amhara National Regional State (ANRS), with an estimated population of 15. 5 million covers a total area of 170,000 square kilometers and its altitude ranges from a low of 500 meters to a high of 4,620 meters found at the peak of Mount Ras Dashen, which is Ethiopia's highest point and Africa's fourth highest Mountain.  

The region has three watershade areas, namely Abay (Blue Nile), Tekezie and Awash. Tana, the largest lake of Ethiopia and the third largest in Africa is located at the heart of the region. 

Investment Opportunities

The economy of the region, like the economy of the nation is based on agriculture. Most of the region produces variety of cereals, pulses, spices, fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

More than 164, 000 hectares of fertile land conducive to commercial cash crop production is available and 657, 000 hectares   of arable land in the region is irrigable and is ideally suited for production of horticulture, different crops, fruits and vegetables. 

Thus, rendering agricultural services (e.g. polishing, harvesting and threshing) to commercial farms, rental of agricultural machinery, veterinary facilities and plant protection services, institutions of irrigation system, inputs supply and output marketing and the like have high potential profitability as the growth of the agricultural sector is evident with utmost priority it  enjoys.  

One third of Ethiopia's livestock population is found in the Amhara Region. Given the rise in the demand for livestock products, the full range of livestock production from primary products (meat, milk etc.) to manufactured goods (leather, wool products, etc) offers investors opportunities for engaging in development endeavors.  

 The region is also famous for its quality honey. Given the diverse flora and fauna and the conducive climatic conditions, modern honey production and processing activities leaves excellent scopes. This is an activity that shows strong potential for growth into a profitable industry.

The region's water resources also provide vast fishing potential. The annual catch from Lake Tana alone is estimated at 15,000 tons. This is also true for the region's other lakes with 1,000 to 1,200 tons of underdeveloped potential. 

Many opportunities exist for manufacturing consumer goods from local raw materials. Such opportunities include:

• Processing and preserving of meat and milk products,

• Processing and preserving of grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables production,

• Processing and preserving of fish and fish products,

• Manufacturing of sugar, brewery, winery and soft drinks; manufacturing of starch and starch products,

• Leather processing and tanning up to finished goods,

• Spinning, weaving and finishing of textile fabric,

• Manufacturing of fertilizer and other chemical industries,

Throughout the Amhara National Regional State, there are abundant mineral resources such as opal, gold, coal, limestone, lignite, gypsum, gemstone, silica, sulfur, and bentonite. In addition, mineral water sources are found in South Gonder, North shoa, West Gojam, and South Wolo zones.  

The Mining Development Proclamation No 52/85 allows investors to participate individually, jointly, or in a joint venture with the government in the exploration and exploitation of many minerals including precious metals such as gold.

In the mining sector some of the reliable project ideas include:

• Manufacturing of cement, lime, gypsum, marble, granite, glass, etc.

• Production of dimensional stone, floor tiles, aggregate production, hollow blocks etc.

• Exploration and extraction of coal, gold and opal.

Investment Protection and Incentives  

Ethiopia has concluded multilateral and bilateral investment promotion agreements with many countries and is ready to expand this to other countries. Currently Ethiopia is a member and signatory of the World Bank affiliated Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and signatory of the International Convection on Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).      

Based on the Federal Investment Proclamation (No.375/2003) the council of ministers has issued investment incentive regulation No.84/2003 which provides exemption from income tax and exemption from customs duty as incentives to investment projects.

In addition to this, the Amhara Region has put in place investment incentives for investors such as:-

a)      Provision of urban land free of charge or with small fee based on lease system and rural land on rental basis;

b)     Small Royalty fee for fish processing projects(less than USD 1.5 per ton);

c)      Priority in rendering investment services under "one stop investment service" arrangement; 

In order to promote investment in the region some selected projects have got an advantage to own urban land free of charge. These are:

§         Processing and preserving of milk, meat, fish, honey, fruits and vegetables and their products;

§         Manufacture of macaroni, noodles, sugar, glucose, malt, cornflakes, animal feed and spice products;

§         Manufacture of finished leather products;

§         Manufacture of woolen and yarn thread, garment and ready made and textile products;

§          Setting up of health and educational institutions as well as welfare organizations;

§         Manufacture of veneer sheets, plywood, lamin board and other products;

§         Manufacture of paper and different paper products;

§         Manufacture of fertilizers and other agro-chemicals;

§         Manufacture of agricultural and forestry machineries;

§         Manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medical, chemicals and surgical equipments and orthopedic appliances;

§         Manufacture of high-tech metallurgy;

§         Manufacture of electric motors, generators, transformers and electric and electronic equipments;

§         Manufacture of different construction goods;

§         Manufacture of utensils/cooking ranges/ and the like.