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(In paragraph 1, corrects Microsoft intends to open application factory not manufacturing plant)

Microsoft, American multinational software corporation, through its African Initiative Program has started setting up application factories across Africa. Ethiopia is also one of the countries where Microsoft is planning to set up application factory for developers through which they can create Windows applications for the Windows 8 or Windows Phone platform.

During the 11th Innovation Africa Digital Summit held the past week in Ethiopia which saw the attendance of some 500 participants form the information communication technology industry, Microsoft has also presented its Africa initiative programs.

SouthWest Energy is planning to drill three wells in this year and in 2014 in its Jijiga basin concession on Ethiopia's border with Somalia. The company holds a total of 46,000 square kilometers of exploration acreage.

Tewodros Ashenafi, CEO of SouthWest Energy, a native of Ethiopia and the biggest shareholder in the company,  hopes his Ethiopian exploration will become the first indigenous company to make a basin-opening discovery in sub-Saharan Africa's 21st Century oil and gas boom.

Ethiopia’s inflation rate fell to 7.6 percent in March (Megabit) 2005 E.C., according to the Central Statistics Agency.

Households Survey and Prices Statistics Directorate Director with the Agency, Alemayehu Teferi, said the government has managed to bring price inflation down to single digit as per its plan. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Shipping and Logistic Services Enterprise signed an agreement with Evergreen, an Egyptian container transporter on Today 9 April 2013. The agreement is said to enhance the transportation Ethiopia's import and export commodities efficiently to support the countries rapid economic growth.

Ethiopian Shipping and Logistic Services Enterprise Chief Executive, Ahmed Tussa on the occasion said, the agreement with Evergreen will enable the Enterprises to work together in the Far East, China and Red Sea routes. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has amended its directive to increase the minimum wage paid to Ethiopians traveling to the Middle East for job. The directive has increased minimum wage from  180 U.S dollars to USD 250.

Many Ethiopians travel to the Middle East for a meager salary of USD 180 to provide unskilled labor services, while Indonesian and Filipino domestic workers wage ranges from USD 450 to USD 500 with more favorable working conditions.

Compressed Earth Block (CEB), a new way of making block was introduced to the Ethiopia at a workshop on alternative construction materials organized by the American Cement Institute (ACI) Ethiopian Chapter on April 4, 2013  at the Hilton Hotel.

Compressed Earth Block is said to be made of different type of materials. The material is not usually favored by constructors because it is thought that it is not water resistant. Add a comment Add a comment

The Chinese construction company, China Road and Bridge Corporation Addis Engineering (CRBC) and the Israel based, Tidhar Construction Ltd have been awarded the 8.6km interchange and roundabout project, part of the Light Railway Transit (LRT) project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The joint finaniers of the project, the Addis Ababa City Administration and the Federal Government of Ethiopia,selected the contractors to undertake the the 2.5 billion birr project within the set deadline. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Airlines, has collected a 25.1 billion birr profit in its eight months of operation, Diriba Kuma, the Transport Minister told parliament last Tuesday presenting his office’s eight-month performance report.

According to the minister, the airline’s projection for the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year is to increase its total revenue to 30.1 billion birr, and so far it has achieved 82 percent of it its earning target. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia's Zemen Bank announced it has sold close to 200 million birr in shared in the past two month, achieving its target of capital increase for the fiscal year. The sale of shares has been limited to existing share holders in the bank. The total capital of the bank now stands at 400 million birr, a two fold increase from the previous year.

The Bank noted that its deposit base in the first nine months of the current fiscal year has increased 42 percent and had passed 2.5 billion birr, all mobilized from a single main branch.

MIDROC and its affiliate has signed a contract for the transfer of three agricultural enterprises previously owned by the Ethiopian government. The contract was signed by Sheikh Mohammed Ali Al Amoudi and Beyene Gebremeskel, Director General of the Ethiopian Privatization & Public Enterprises Supervising Agency, on April 4, 2013, at the Sheraton Addis Hotel.

MIDROC acquired Upper Awash Agro-Industry for 860 million Br, 35pc of which it has paid in advance. HORIZON Plantations, its affiliate, also acquired Coffee Processing & Warehouse Enterprise and Gojeb Farm for 228.2 million Br and 35.1 million Br, respectively, paying 50pc in advance for both.

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