Ethiopia said Saturday foreign direct investment into the Horn of Africa country has shown a rapid growth over the last three years.

Abe Wolde-meskel, director general of the Ethiopian Investment Agency, told journalists that both flow of foreign direct investment and number of foreign investors have shown an accelerated growth during the past three years.

From 2003 to 2005, foreign direct investment into the country amounted 4.35 billion U.S. dollars, said Abe.

He said it is encouraging that foreign investors were keen to invest in vital economic areas in accordance with the efforts, launched by the government to bring about rapid economic development.

The economic liberal policies, taken by the Ethiopia government over the past three years, has resulted in improvements in the areas of foreign investment. Today, Ethiopia offers a stable, secure and, exceptionally for a developing country, mostly corruption-free operating environment.

Although Ethiopia suffers from poor infrastructure, the government has made serious efforts to improve roads and airports, thus paving a way for the flow of foreign investment.

Source: Xinhua