Public Financial Management Perspectives on Health Sector Financing and Resource Allocation in Ethiopia

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss Ethiopia’s approach to health delivery, trends in health financing trends, focusing on the financing arrangements and expenditure management systems through which health funding is allocated from various internal and external sources. The paper reviews Ethiopia’s public financial management system to identify challenges and opportunities to improve domestic resource mobilization for health and resource allocation within the health sector. With the imminent transition away from external donor support that Ethiopia faces due to economic growth, the paper explores the sources of fiscal space for health in Ethiopia to sustain progress in the health sector through a deep dive of the sources of health financing through tax and non-tax revenues, additional borrowing, future aid prospects, and better fiscal discipline and expenditure efficiency.

Keywords: Ethiopia, health financing, aid, resource mobilization, Sub-Saharan Africa