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The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development announced that  remittance to developing countries has shown growth according to the The Least Developed Countries Report 2012: Harnessing Remittances and Diaspora Knowledge to Build Productive Capacities” report. The report was released Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last Monday.

The report stated that the amount of remittance to developing countries has increased from 3.5 billion to 27 billion in the last decade, 1990-211. This is a very significant growth according to Tesfachew Tafere, Director of the Africa and Least Developed Countries Division with UNCTAD.

The 48 countries that were included in the report are the world’s least developed countries. The report counseled these countries to draft laws to allow for the proper utilization of the remittance.

Techno Brain has become the first Ethiopian IT company to be awarded the ISO 9001:2008 certificate by the International Certification Network- IQNET- and Namko.

The award was issued in recognition of the top IT solutions Techno Brain has rolled out into a software market as well as the solutions it offers under IT Systems Integration, Consultancy, IT Software Services, IT Education and Training.

The certificate is a major endorsement for Techno Brain and its products and services to its clients.

Inflation rates for food items were mixed in the last quarter of the financial year according to a research released by Access Capital.

The inflation on important food items showed some increases compared to the last financial year according to the report. Some improvement however was observed in the price of other food items like cooking oil.

Items that showed a double digit increase in this quarter of the year were teff, table salt, green pepper, and onion while Broccoli showed a 200 percent increment. On the other hand a price decrease was seen on the price of some construction materials like iron, cement, and cables while wood materials have also increased in double digits. 

The Ethiopian Metal & Engineering Corporation (MetEC) has announced a four year plan to train 80,000 street people in various fields at an estimated cost of 30 million Birr. The project is expected to reduce the number of homeless adults in Ethiopian streets.

Elshadai Relief and Development Association has taken on the task of recruiting homeless adults from the streets of the country. The local NGO will announce the registration process in all towns through notifications posted around towns where the people targeted are said to live. It is expected that a majority of the recruits will be women.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Communications & Information Technology launched 49 e-services in order to enable seven governmental institutions to offer online services. The office announced the launching of the e-service on at event held at the Churchill Hotel.

The e-service installation and development was conducted by two private IT solution providers at a cost of 3.8 million Birr. Africom Technologies Plc developed 33 of the e-services portal for 2.8 million Birr while E-System Africahad supplied the remaining 16 at a cost of 1 million Birr it was said at the time.

It is to be remembered that the two companies won the tender for the project last year.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority announced a tender for the design of the the 80.5Km road from Gedo to Menebegna in Wollega Zone of Oromia. The project is part of the larger Gedo-Lemlem Bereha project, which is 144.3kms and is expected to require financing estimated at 50 million US dollars.

The Ethiopian government will fund 10 percent of the project while the remaining 90 percent is expected to be covered by loans.

The loans to finance the construction project are yet to be approved by the House of Peoples Representatives.

The Bank of Abyssinia, Ethiopia announced that it netted a profit of 215.17 million Br after tax for the 2011-12 fiscal year which is 22.9 percent higher than previous year.

The report was heard on the 16th annual meeting of the shareholders that took place at the Hilton Hotel.

The achievement was attained despite of the local and international financial crises according to Mahari Alemayehu, board chairman of the bank. 

The total deposit of the bank grew to 6.7 billion Br, 696 million birr growth, interest leaped by 33.7pc to 497.49 million it is mentioned on the report. There has also been an increase in the the bank’s expense in the last fiscal year.

The Ethiopian Quality Award announced that it has finished its preparations to start the registration of organizations for the third national quality award at the end of the year.

The registration will start in the mid of December 2012 according to Michael Melaku, managing director of EQA.

Manufacturers, constriction companies, service providers, profit making and non-profit making organizations are all invited to compete. EQA has also prepared a self assessment manual for competitors for the first time this year according to the announcement.

The bid put out by the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority has received interest from IT companies, four of which presented financial and technical proposal for evaluation.

The bid is for the installation a single window system for the tax authority comprising of a single access for request and communication of documents required for clearance, for both importers and exporters offering synchronized service by government institutions.

This single window system, if installed by ERCA, will replace the current manual system in the office which is slow.

DP World is interested in launching operation in Ethiopia to build dry port facility near Addis Ababa and managing logistics with the Ethio-Djibouti corridor according to a senior manager.

Back in October the senior official of DP world, Joost Kruijning, Vice president and managing director for Middle East & Africa, and Hans de Jong, regional commercial director for the same region, were in Addis Ababa to speak with the Ethiopian officials.

They presented their proposal to Ahmed Tusa, managing director of Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE), and his deputy, Alemu Ambaye.