2merkato

The Revenues and Customs Authority of Ethiopia has submitted a shortlist of six companies to conduct a national revenues potential study to the World Bank.

The firm selected to conduct the job will be required to measure the revenue productivity of each tax and discover discrepancies between potential revenue and the revenue being actually collected.

The study will reveal strength’s and weakness on the part of ERCA in its efforts to raise domestic revenue according to an official with the authority.

The Revenues and Customs Authority of Ethiopia is to launch an electronic cargo tracking system on the road between Addis Ababa and Port Djibouti.

The effort, which will commence in two weeks, expects to track and monitor the transit of goods, to reduce customary theft that added up to 1.4% of commodities exported in the last fiscal year according to statistics from the International Cargo Securities Council.

Such acts of theft have negatively affected the image of Ethiopian exports on the international market claimed Belay Desta, Head of the Border Directorate with ERCA.

Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa will become a mega city in 20 years according to Alan Pardoe, Head of Marketing and Communications with Airbus, speaking at a press briefing held at the Sheraton Addis Hotel.

There are currently just 39 mega cities, hosting in excess of 10,000 long haul air passengers daily with this number expected to increase to 90 over the next 20 years he explained.

Ethiopia will need very large aircraft like the Airbus A380 as Addis Ababa becomes a mega city and Ethiopian Airlines grows requiring more new aircraft noted Pardoe.

The tourist industry in Ethiopia has seen a growth of 111% to earn 253 million dollars in the first two of the current fiscal year according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The number of tourists visiting the country has increased by 44% with 321,000 visitors during the last six months.

The average length of stay for tourists to Ethiopia has also shown an increase from 4 days to 6 days.