$122 billion needed over a decade to achieve development goals

Ethiopia requires as much as US $122 billion over the next decade if it is to wipe out poverty and hunger, according to government figures released on Wednesday.

The government said the funding was needed to meet the eight UN Millennium Development Goals that call for cutting world poverty in half and encouraging development by 2015.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest nations where average incomes are less than $100 a year. Around half of the country lives below the international poverty line of $1 a day. Addisu Legesse, deputy prime minister, called for an "increased commitment" from rich nations over the next decade, so that Ethiopia could "break the poverty trap".

"It is not difficult to realise the immense challenges facing Ethiopia to generate sustained rapid broad-based growth and poverty reduction and, hence, realise the MDGs," the minister said. "Facing the challenge of scaling up and accelerated implementation of our development programme is urgent."

The government estimates that $33 billion is needed for rural development, $19 billion to combat HIV/AIDS and $13 billion to overhaul the education sector. Some $27 billion is needed to build new roads in the country while the health sector requires an additional $13 billion.

The government is expected to provide around 40 percent of the overall amount in trying to meet the MDGs, while the international community will pick up the balance.

Modibo Toure, the UN Development Programme resident representative in Ethiopia, said that key areas, like gaps in policy and supporting decentralisation down to the local level, must be addressed.

"If we meet the MDGs in Ethiopia, Africa stands a good chance to do so," he told senior government officials and donors meeting to discuss the funding levels.

"Let us bear in mind that business as usual is not acceptable," he added. "We need to do things differently, with more urgency, focus and seriousness of effort."

Some donors however said mobilising such large resources could be the greatest challenge of all. Tim Clarke, head of the European Commission in Addis Ababa, described the figures as "dangerously high" and warned that they are unlikely to be met.

"Some of these MDGs require money - others require strong political leadership and a strong commitment from the donor community to bind the process," he said.

Ethiopia, which has 70 million people, receives around $1.9 billion a year from wealthy nations to help tackle its massive poverty. "The actual amount of money for overseas development assistance mobilised per year by the entire donor community is about $50 billion for the world," Clarke told journalists.

The sums were spelt out at a three-day conference attended by donor countries and the UN.