MACRO- ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE According to a report issued recently by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the rapid and broad-based economic growth registered over the last three years has been effective in generating employment, improving incomes and reducing poverty. The per capita GDP in current prices has grown from USD 373 in 2009/10 to USD 550 in 2012/13. The overall poverty level declined from 29.6 percent in 2010/11 to 26 percent in 2012/13. In the same period, food poverty declined from 33.6 percent in 2010/11 to 31.8 in 2012/13. The progress made over the last three years in economic growth and social development has put Ethiopia in a better position to achieve the MDGs target of reducing poverty level to 22.2 percent by 2015. 1. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) In 2010/11, the government adopted the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) (2010-2015), a five-year development plan, with a central goal to end poverty in Ethiopia. The GTP addresses the social, economic and justice sectors as well as good governance issues, and how these sectors impact the overall goals of the Plan. The agriculture economic sector remains the main engine of the Ethiopian economy. One of the strategic directions devised under the GTP has been to ensure the productivity of smallholder agriculture by scaling up interventions for better utilization of smallholders‟ labour, land use and improved agricultural practices.1 The broader objective of the agriculture and rural development element of the plan is to achieve accelerated and sustained growth that contributes to poverty eradication and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 2 With respect to infrastructural development, strategic directions were laid out for expansion of road networks, railway transport, energy, telecommunications, potable water supply and irrigation development, transport services, and urban and construction development. This was done on the basis that provision of affordable physical and economic infrastructure contributes significantly to economic growth, employment creation, and social welfare. The education sector development plan of Ethiopia generally aims to produce democratic, efficient, effective, knowledgeable, inspired and creative citizens who can contribute to the realization of 1 2 GTP, page 45, para 2 GTP, page 47, para 2 13