2merkato

With a view to increase production and productivity nationwide, Ethiopian Agricultural Business Corporation (EABC) is planning to manufacture light and low cost agricultural machinery in Ethiopia. Kefyalew Berhanu, the Corporation’s CEO, said EABC plans to manufacture the machinery through joint ventures. According to the CEO, the Corporation is planning to work with foreign companies. He said, “EABC is ready to provide land, marketing service, trained manpower and also contribute modest capital,” adding that light and low cost agricultural machinery are essential for the country in reducing the cost of importing.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) released USD 500 million to the manufacturing sector. Experts in heavy industry said the amount was relatively high compared with the USD 300 million which was released in March; but it was still very small compared with the expectation and may be used to import a limited amount of inputs for several weeks of production with up to 20 percent production capacity. Representatives from Ethiopia’s manufacturing Industry said that they were forced to produce below their potential, at ten to twenty percent of their capacity, as a result of the hard currency shortage which led to the increase in prices and a deceleration in the economy.

Ebiz Online Solutions PLC, the owner and publisher of 2merkato.com, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Addis Ababa City Construction Bureau yesterday, 29 August 2018, at Addis Ababa City Construction Bureau HQ. The MoU states that Ebiz agrees to gather construction inputs prices, compile the data, ensure the quality of the data and handover the data to the bureau. Ebiz will also make the data accessible online so that players in the industry can access and use it. Helawi Sewnet (Architect), the Bureau's Deputy Head, and Fisha Assefa, Ebiz's General Manager, signed the MoU.

Ethio Telecom announced that it began undertaking a new expansion plan in order to double the capacity and improve the quality of its services. The expansion plan is at its initial stage of selecting companies to undertake the expansion and examine the extent of the expansion.