MPIA-12849 The role of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Ethiopian Economy; Government Intervention and Alternative Strategies: CGE Analysis

Abstract

This project involved two studies. First abstract: Given the fact that Micro and Small scale enterprises (MSEs) are high on the Ethiopian government’s agenda for mid-term growth and transformation plan (GTP), this study aims to investigate the major contributions and the potential of this sector to the Ethiopian economy. Using a CGE modeling approach, we assess the role of MSEs towards the major development goals of the government: unemployment and poverty reduction. Three simulation scenarios were designed based on the current MSE development plan but with different implementation strategies. The strategy that the government is currently following to implement the MSE development plan was found to be performing the best on expanding overall production, but failed to tackle the critical issues of poverty and unemployment reduction. However, other alternative strategies were found to give the country the best solutions to these development concerns as well as investment. Female unemployment also reduced the most in these alternative scenarios. This shows that the MSE sector has the potential to meet the envisaged developmental goals in Ethiopia, but strategy adjustment is needed. Second abstract: Development of Micro and Small enterprises (MSEs) is one mechanism for alleviating unemployment, especially for women. Ethiopia has developed policy as part of the Growth Transformation and Plan (GTP) to develop MSEs to generate employment at the initial stage and transform the enterprises into medium and large enterprises in the long run. However, contrary to this objective, the growth of these enterprises has been very slow by every standard. This study evaluates the factors behind the slow growth of the enterprises by estimating the enterprise growth model captured by employment growth over the span of the period that the firm has operated. We find that women owners, in particular, face more severe credit, market and working premises constraints. We also find that while enterprise growth is inversely related to initial size, financial literacy and desirable managerial qualities of owners and managers positively contribute to enterprise growth.

Members

Project leader: Ermias Engida

Project researchers: Saba Yifredew | Feiruz Yimer | Ibrahim Worku Hassen | Mekdim Regassa

Scientific mentors: Bernard Decaluwe | Lulit Mitik Beyene

Journal publication

No journal publications.

Working Papers

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
	The role of micro and small scale enterprises in the Ethiopian economy, government intervention and alternative strategies: A CGE analysis	2017-03-24	516.19kB	0	0
	The major bottlenecks of micro and small scale enterprises' growth in Ethiopia: An econometric analysis	2017-03-28	654.71kB	0	0

Policy Briefs

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
	The role of micro and small enterprises in reducing unemployment and poverty in Ethiopia	2017-02-16	479.24kB	0	0

Final report

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
		2016-09-21	650.59KB	0	0
		2016-09-21	1442.03KB	0	0

Proposal

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
		2016-04-29	575.53KB	0	1