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Chinese shoe factories told Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Friday that they were interested in investing in Ethiopia. Zan Guha Rang, president of Hu Han Zangur, a shoe factory producing 15 million pairs of shoes a year, said, that it was looking for markets in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.

The Prime Minister, during his five-day visit to china, assured the Chinese investors that Ethiopia would support prospective Chinese investors. Representatives of various Chinese companies spoke with the Prime Minister about their intentions to invest in Ethiopia.

VAT registered businesses throughout Ethiopia are going to start using cash register machines like those in Addis Ababa.

Officials in the Tigray Regional State started this week enforcing the use of cash registration machines the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) said. The Amhara, Oromia and SNNP regional states are preparing to begin using the system.

The Central Statistical Agency said this week that Ethiopia’s inflation rate climbed to 39.2 percent in July from a year earlier.

Inflation accelerated from 38.1 percent in June, according to the agency. Food prices increased by 47.4 percent in July after rising 45.3 percent in the previous month, while the cost of non-food items fell from 27.9 percent to 27.8 percent, it said.

Al Brooge Securities Company, which acquired 75 percent stake in a Djibouti Oil Refinery, is set to invest 150 million dollars to increase its daily output, Husam Alameri, CEO of the company, said.

Alameri said that the acquisition deal had been concluded with investors from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. He said that the new owners would spend 150 million dollars to increase by 150 percent the refinery's current capacity of 40,000 barrels per day of Arabian Light Crude and Arabian Heavy Crude to 100,000 barrels per day.

The chief executive officer said that the next expansion phase would start in the six months period.