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Total, Ethiopia, is to move its headquarter offices to a four storey building around the African Union Commission as its current location is in the way of the Addis Ababa City Light Railway under construction.

The railway project will demolish more than one half of the company’s headquarters close to the Gotera Interchange necessitating the move to building it had just rented said Jonathan Molapo, Chairman of Total Ethiopia.

The company is happy to pay this small sacrifice to support the increasing pace of development in the country as evidenced by the significant infrastructural development project including the railway said Molapo. Add a comment Add a comment

BGI Ethiopia launched a new draught beer, under the newly introduced Amber brand, said Esayas Hadera, Marketing Manager of BGI. The new draught beer was officially announced this week although the company had been promoting in selected areas in the past few weeks.

The brewer is currently producing the new draught beer at its plant in Addis Ababa although the other BGI plants located in Hawassa and Kombolcha are expected to begin production soon said Esayas.

BGI has installed more than 200 new draught beer dispensers, each costing an estimated 100 thousand birr, for the new beer in Addis and other regional towns according to Surafel Alene, Sales Director of BGI. It is expected that an additional 200 machines will be installed to increase the market for the new product he noted. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority affirmed that the tax levied on undistributed dividend applies to private limited companies and share companies.

The authority contradicted the claims made about the legality of the tax by members of the business community claiming that the tax proclamation served as the framework for the application.

The authority will enforce the payment of ten percent of accumulated net profit earmarked for distribution amongst shareholders even if it remains undivided said Melaku Fenta, Director of the ERCA speaking at meeting he had with members of the business community protesting the law last Saturday. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority is to introduce what is known as a ‘customer charter’ designed to ensure better services for taxpayers.

The charter introduced by the authority at a discussion with taxpayers and other stakeholders at the Addis Ababa, Ghion Hotel details 28 major services and specifies time frames for service delivery.

Some of the services detailed and the time frame allotted to them include tax payer registration expected to take no more than 10 to 30 minutes, closing a business should take no more than 30 minutes, help with operating a cash register machine, 5 to 20 minutes, duty free privilege service no more than 2 days and clearance services 30 minutes according to the charter. Add a comment Add a comment

The Metal and Engineering Corporation urged the Ethiopian government to create a policy solution for the challenges associated with the taxed imposed on imported goods.

The tax imposed on imported manufacturing goods and raw materials for industrial use which are essential to the manufacturing process are much higher in Ethiopia than in other countries said Kinfe Dagnew, Brigadier General of the Corporation speaking to the House of People’s Representatives.

The tax imposed on locally manufactured goods are lower than in other countries of similar economic status which is encouraging to manufacturers but the taxes levied on imported equipment vital to the manufacturing sector remain high he added. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy graduated its most recent batch of graduates this week. The Academy graduated a total of 90 graduates.

The aviation Academy graduated 65 cabin crew trainees who had undertaken three months of training at the Academy said Samuel Assefa, Vice President of the Academy speaking on the occasion of the graduation.

The remaining graduates, a total of 25 graduated from the Modularized Aviation Maintenance Technical School after 11 months of training he said. The almost year long training included general and specific courses according to Samuel.

The academy is training crew and staff to meet the demand for trained personnel for Ethiopian Airlines as well as others to play its part in the development and modernization of the aviation sector nationally and regionally he noted. Add a comment Add a comment

The Addis Ababa City Roads Authority announced a budget of 2.6 billion birr to construct interchanges and roundabouts as  a part of the Light Railway Transit being launched in the Ethiopian capital. The budget for the roads development is expected to be covered by the federal government and the city administration according to sources.

The roads authority will select a contract for the construction of the interchanges and roundabouts once it confirms funding it was noted.

The authority plans to invite capable and experienced international contractors to handle what is expected to be a difficult project explained Engineer Fekade Haile, General Manager of the AACRA. Add a comment Add a comment

Brazil is to co-finance the Ethiopian railway infrastructure construction project alongside China and Turkey.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is in the final stages of negotiations with Brazil for the financing of the Sebeta-Ijaji-Jimma-Bedele railway project according to sources at the ministry.

It is to be remembered that Andrade Gutierrez S.A , Brazilian contractor signed a Memorandum of Understanding  with the Ethiopian Railway Corporation last financial year handle the construction of the railway project under the condition that it will find financing. Add a comment Add a comment

Gold produced by traditional artisan gold miners in Ethiopia has been below projection for the last two quarters according to sources.

A estimated 2 thousand traditional miners in the five gold producing regions of the country have only been able to supply 4,325 kilograms of gold to the National Bank of Ethiopia so far this fiscal year said the sources.

The amount supplied is 34.4 percent lower than what had been anticipated it was noted. The production rate is however still higher than the 3,809 kilograms that was produced by artisan miners in the previous financial year. Add a comment Add a comment

Addis Ababa University, foremost institution of higher education in Ethiopia, is to establish a Technology Business Incubation Center as well as a Science and Technology Park. The proposed center, the Addis Ababa University Technology and Business Incubation Center, will be a center to promote excellence in entrepreneurship development as well as serving to commercialize technological innovations at the university.

It is expected to offer a range of support services including infrastructure, finance, management assistance and a support network to strengthen new and emerging entrepreneurial efforts it was said at a at a workshop organized to promote the proposed center. The center is also expected to support the university’s aim to strengthen technology transfer, and research and development efforts. Add a comment Add a comment