Chinese firms create over 28,000 jobs in Ethiopia over past five years

Ethiopian attendant Yanet welcomes passengers at the Lebu station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 5, 2016. Ethiopia and Djibouti on Wednesday launched Africa's first modern electrified railway connecting their capitals. The 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, also known as Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, has a designed hourly speed of 120 kilometers. It was constructed by China Railway Group and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation with a total investment of US$4 billion. [Xinhua/Sun Ruibo]

Chinese companies have created more than 28,300 jobs in various sectors during the past five-year period in Ethiopia, an official at the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) told Xinhua on July 21.

According to Mekonen Hailu, EIC Communications Director, a total of 28,391 jobs were created by 279 Chinese companies in the east African country during the period of January 2012 to January 2017, of which 20,072 were permanent while the remaining 8,319 were temporary jobs.

Out of these jobs, over 19,000 were created in Ethiopia's manufacturing sector as the sector is leading its African peers by attracting companies from China both in numbers and financial capital, with a total number of 276 projects both under implementation and operation phase during the stated period, Hailu said.

The data from the Ethiopian Investment Commission further indicated that the 279 Chinese companies that were set operational during the reported period are additional to 100 other Chinese companies that are now currently under implementation in the country.

The 279 Chinese companies have a registered financial capital of over 13.16 billion Ethiopian birr (over US$572 million), it was indicated.

Construction, service and agricultural sectors are the other sectors hosting a great number of Chinese companies in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation.

According to recent data from Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry, Chinese companies have invested around US$4 billion in Ethiopia during the last two decades, creating job opportunities for over 111,000 Ethiopians on permanent and temporary basis.

China is also Ethiopia's largest trading partner, in which the two countries' trade reached US$6.37 billion in 2015, while growing on average 22.2 percent annually for the last several years.