Addis Ababa’s Annual Revenue Surges Nearly Seven-Fold to 350 Billion Birr in Five Years, City Ranks Among Africa’s Top Six

#EBR_News Jul 13, 2026

Addis Ababa City Administration has reported that the city’s annual revenue has grown from 51 billion Birr in 2021/22 to 350 billion Birr in 2025/26, a nearly seven-fold increase over five years with the 2025/26 fiscal year alone recording a 50 per cent growth equivalent to 116.3 billion Birr compared to the previous year.

The figures were presented at the 4th Regular Summary Session of the Addis Ababa City Council, according to a statement posted on the city administration’s official communication office social media page. The city said the revenue performance placed Addis Ababa among the top six African cities, enabling it to share its experience with peer cities on the continent.

According to the statement, the city’s total budget for 2025/26 stood at 360.07 billion Birr, of which 71 per cent was allocated for sustainable development expenditure and the remaining 29 per cent for regular operating expenses.

The city administration attributed the revenue growth to an expansion of the tax base and the inclusion of new taxpayers, alongside the rollout of more than 150 digitized services across eleven One-Window service centers, locally known as Mesob centers, which the statement said have helped eliminate malpractice and improve accountability.

On investment, the statement indicated that over the past five years, Addis Ababa issued new licenses to 22,190 investors and expansion licenses to a further 1,632. Of these, more than 2,000 investors have become operational, mobilizing over 54 billion Birr in capital.

More significantly, the city reported attracting over 1.3 trillion Birr in capital through Public-Private Partnership development projects over the same period, a figure the statement said has enabled the government to redirect public budget resources toward social services.

The city also reported notable results in job creation. Over the past five years, more than 2.2 million job opportunities were created for residents, with 52 per cent going to women and 77 per cent to youth, according to the statement. In 2025/26 alone, 371,354 job opportunities were recorded, of which 53 per cent went to women, 51.87 per cent to youth, and 8.94 per cent to graduates.

On industrial development, the statement said manufacturing industries in the city achieved import substitution of 24.2 million tones over the five-year period, which the city said enabled the country to save $8.4 billion in foreign currency.

Export performance reached 92,522 tones of products supplied to international markets during the same period, generating $729 million in foreign currency earnings. To support manufacturers, the city said it provided 664 industries with 6,667 machines valued at 3.3 billion Birr and disbursed nearly 3.84 billion Birr in loans to manufacturers during the reporting period.

On finance and property management, the statement said audit findings led to the recovery of 200 million Birr, while a further 100 million Birr was recovered from inflated building rent payments.

Electronic procurement has been implemented across 61 institutions, and assets valued at over 87 billion Birr including 6,815 government buildings have been registered in a modern asset management database, according to the statement. The city also reported mobilizing over 6.6 billion Birr in resources for the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.