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On September 18, 2013, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Recent macroeconomic developments are encouraging, with a significant deceleration in inflation and continued robust economic growth.

Despite significant decline in coffee prices and supply bottlenecks, growth remains robust, supported by better agriculture output and construction and other services activities. Inflation declined from the peak of 40 percent in July 2011 to around 7 percent in June 2013. This has significantly eased the extent to which real interest rates were negative. Pressures resulting in foreign exchange shortages in the wake of the passing away of Prime Minister Meles have eased.

The need for strong weather and climate services to reduce vulnerability and promote sustainable development will be addressed by the Third Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-III) (http://www.climdev-africa.org/ccda3) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 21 – 23 October, 2013.

Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing and most customer service driven airline in Africa, was chosen as Service Quality Institute's Worldwide Customer Service Leader in Istanbul Turkey on 12 October during the awards banquet at the Worldwide Customer Service Conference.

CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam received the award.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) is drafting a regulatory framework for the Payment, Settlement & Clearing System operators, Fortune reported.

The directive will be applicable to companies, such as Premiere Switch Solutions (PSS), established by Awash, Nib and United banks in 2011, for the joint use ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) terminals. Recently, Berhan International and Addis International banks have joined PSS.