2merkato

Construction and Business Bank’s (CBB) branches will start giving service starting from April 4, 2016 under the name of their new owner, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

According to the time table set by CBE, migrating customer base and institutional data of CBB will be done by April 2, 2016.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade is going to commence business registration and licensing services online.  The Ministry is taking such path in response to good governance problems witnessed in the sector.

The service will enable customers of the Ministry to get registration and licensing services from wherever they are.

Korea Expressway Corporation concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Transport. It was Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Korea, Shiferaw Jarso, that signed the MoU on behalf of the Ethiopian Government on March 30, 2016.

The horticulture sector of Ethiopia generated more than 185 million USD in the first 8 months of the current fiscal year. This is 17 percent higher when compared to the same period from the previous year’s performance.

The biggest share of the money earned goes to cut flower export to Europe. It generated over 150 million USD in the 8 months.

Derba Cement, one of MIDROC Ethiopia’s subsidiaries, is planning to expand its cement plant at a cost of300 million USD. The expansion project is expected to take from 18 – 24 months.

Derba Cement’s CEO, Haile Assegide, explained Derba was preparing to build a second plant in Chancho City. Upon completion, the plant would have the capacity of producing 25 million quintals of cement in a year, he furthered.

Draft bill has been submitted to the parliament in the aim of issuing Special Government Bond which will serve as capital injection for Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE). The bonds are worth 2.56 billion Birr and bear no interest.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) concluded a 1.2 billion Birr agreement with Larsen Arsen & Toubro Limited, an Indian company, for capacity improvement and expansion project at power distribution stations. The main aim of the expansion project is avoiding power interruptions.

85 percent of the cost is financed by a loan secured from French Development Agency while the rest 15 percent will be covered by the Ethiopian government.

Study conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change showed around 14 plastic bag factories in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, are producing below standard bags. The study added 2 of these factories operated without a license.

Ethiopia’s telecom giant, Ethio Telecom, is planning to bring into play a system which is said to prevent theft, making illegal international phone calls and using below standard handset.

The company aims to launch the system in less than a month's time.

The first 6 months of the current fiscal year has blessed Ethiopia’s telecom monopole, Ethio Telecom, with 10.9 billion Birr gross profit. This was a 111 percent achievement of the company’s plan.