Ethiopia's overall spending is expected to rise 2% to 801.65 billion birr ($14.74 billion) in 2023/24, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said on Thursday.

Ahmed said during a budget speech that the economy was forecast to grow 7.9% in 2023/24 from an estimated 7.5% in 2022/23. Ethiopia's fiscal year runs from July 8 to July 7.

The East African country's budget deficit is expected to be 281.05 billion birr in the coming year.

Ethiopia plans to cover the deficit by getting about 39 billion birr from foreign loans and 242 billion birr in domestic borrowing, Shide added.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, a two-year war in the northern Tigray region and droughts in parts of the country are still being felt by the Ethiopian economy, which has also experienced foreign-currency shortages. ($1 = 54.3861 birr) (Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw Writing by George Obulutsa and Bhargav Acharya Editing by Alexander Winning)