The second Growth and Transformation Plan targeted that by the end of the plan, Ethiopia would earn one billion USD from the leather and leather products export. But due to scarcity of hard currency for importing spare parts and chemical inputs, some leather industries are producing bellow their capacity while others are unable to continue production and found themselves at the verge of their demise.
Tatek Yirga is the Ethiopian Leather Industry Association President. While reflecting his views during a recent panel discussion prepared by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, he said that Shoes factories have no access to get foreign currency from banks but they contribute a great deal of forex to the nation's currency earning through exporting finished and unfinished leather products.
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