Ethiopia should halve poverty by 2015

The United Nations says that Ethiopia is on track to meet Millennium Development Goal number 1 of halving poverty within its borders. If Ethiopia continues their current economic growth they will be able to meet the goal of halving poverty by 2015.

From Bloomberg, writer William Davison gives us more details of Ethiopia's progress in meeting the goals.

The government has “made an enormous progress in the provision of social services such as education, health, and infrastructure by spending a large share of its budget in the pro-poor sector,” the report said. “This could be taken as the best practice from which others may learn.”

Poverty reduction is central to policy in a country where half of children are “chronically malnourished,” 47 percent are stunted and 38 percent underweight, the UN said. Still, economic growth remains vulnerable to poor weather and external financing because of the poor domestic savings rate, according to the report.
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Ethiopia is also on target to achieve its goal of universal primary school education by 2015, while it is less likely to meet the targets on child mortality and environmental sustainability. The East African country is unlikely to achieve goals related to gender equality and maternal health, the UN said.