The Ethiopian government on Saturday emphasized the urgent need to boost the country's domestic production as the ongoing Ukraine crisis disrupted the supply chain, further exacerbating the already soaring cost of living.

The statement was made by Ethiopia's Minister of Trade and Regional Integration, Gebremeskel Chala, as he emphasized the need to augment domestic production of basic consumer goods as a viable solution to contain the rising cost of living and inflation in the East African country, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) quoted Chala as saying on Saturday.

Chala, acknowledging the sharp increase in the price of consumer goods nationwide, said the ongoing Ukraine crisis is further exacerbating the situation as it disrupted the overall supply chain, which leads to a shortage of basic consumer products.

The minister emphasized that phenomenon, in particular, led to the shortage of edible oil supply, a commodity that went relatively scarce in the Ethiopian market during the past months.

A liter of edible oil, which used to be sold for less than 100 birr (1.95 U.S. dollars), is recently being sold in excess of 200 birr.

Amid scarce edible oil supply to the market and the eventual soaring demand, the Ethiopian government had previously dropped taxes and tariffs on imports of all edible oil products, a move being said to address challenges related to the cost of living. The situation nevertheless persists.

According to Chala, despite the Ethiopian government's strong monitoring and control measures to prevent the rising inflation, supply-side shortages are adversely contributing to the crisis.

Chala also blamed illegal traders for further contributing to the situation, as he called on the public to work with authorities toward strengthening the control measures.

Noting the successful import substitution of wheat with the help of domestic production, he emphasized the need to urgently replicate the success achieved by promoting domestic production of edible oil.