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The National Bank of Ethiopia is to oversee all foreign currency requests. The bank will manage applications for foreign currency through Letter of Credit or other transfer requests to best allocate limited foreign exchange resources it was said.

The move to take over the management of all foreign exchange by commercial bank is said to follow a recent shortage of hard currency that is inhibiting the flow of import activities. Importers have been forced to wait for extended periods of time for approval of their foreign currency requests leading to allegations of abuse by bank officials according to sources.

The central bank took charge of giving final approval following these charges of mismanagement. Add a comment Add a comment

Julphar Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries is to officially launch a manufacturing plant in the Addis Ababa. The pharmaceutical plant constructed on 40 thousand square feet is near to completion with all machinery in place according to Kelly Daniell, Communications Manager for Julphar.

The manufacturing plant is designed to manufacture different medicines in solid and liquid form it was learned. It has the capacity to produce 150 million bottles of syrup and suspension medicines as well as 500 million tablets and 107 million capsules every year.

The company is yet to decide what types of medicine it will manufacture and will make its decision on the basis of the demand on the local market said Daniell. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopia could possibly become a member of the World Trade Organization by 2014 depending on the outcome from discussion currently underway it was said.

The announcement was made during the visit to country made by Pascal Lamy, outgoing Director of the WTO. The Director General held talks with Dr. Tewdros, Adhanom, Ethiopian Foreign Minister in regards to the WTO accession process according to Nebiyu Tedla, from the office of the ministry spokesperson.

Ethiopia has been working to fulfill the requirements for membership for almost ten years and is currently in stage 4 of the process it was noted. Add a comment Add a comment

The National Bank of Ethiopia has issued the directive allowing banks and micro-finance institutions to offer transaction based mobile and agent banking services. The directive has come into effect as of the 1st of January.

Mobile banking services include deposits and withdrawals through electronic means as well as facilitating payment and money transfer.

The directive has been anticipated by banks such as Berhan, United and Zemen who have had acquired the capacity to offer e-services but have been unable to do so because awaiting the proper regulatory framework from the central bank.

The Addis Ababa Urban Housing Development Agency is close to begin registration for the 90-10 housing project.

The agency offered training for data encoders to be assigned to the 116 Woreda in Addis Ababa to coordinate the registration period. It is expected that 12 encoders will be assigned to each Woreda to facilitate the registration process using Woreda net the network created for the process.

The city has upgraded the data capacity of its network system from its previous capacity of 512 MB to 2 GB in anticipation according to sources. Add a comment Add a comment

Prince Aklile Berhan Mekonnen has expressed a renewed interest in acquiring Ghion Hotel in the aftermath of the latest unsuccessful tender.

It is to be remembered that Aklile Berhan had signed a 512 million US Dollar joint venture agreement with the Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency made in 2010

The Ethiopian born prince however defaulted on the deadline for the 210 million US dollar initial payment established by the agreement. PPESA went ahead and put the hotel up for bid several times changing its terms to offer full privatization when it found no interest for a joint venture. Add a comment Add a comment

The year on year inflation rate in Ethiopia has dropped to 12.9 percent, according to data revealed by the Central Statistics Agency. The data showed that this was the lowest the inflation rate had been in the last year.

The year on year inflation rate fell from 15.6 percent in November, following a trend downwards from the 36.3 percent peak in February noted the statistics agency.

Food price inflation fell from 13.4 percent in November to 11.8 percent year-on-year in December while non-food inflation dropped  from 19.4 percent to 14.6 percent. Add a comment Add a comment

International Financiers are showing increasing levels of interest in the Ethiopian hydropower projects said Mihiret Debebe, Chief Executive of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

The projects planned to supply power regionally through the interconnection of the regional power grids have attracted attention from leading financiers on the international market he said.

The increasing need for electric power in the region has been a factor in convincing international financier of the viability of the project according to Mihiret. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Standard Agency announced that it has approved 794 new and revised standards. 13 out of the total number of standards approved by the agency are intended to enforce standards for canal pumps while others are designed to regulate the construction, and textile sectors said Daniel Zenebe, Head of Communications and Public Relations with the agency.

The Ethiopian Standards Agency replaced the former Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia when it was officially recognized by the Ethiopian government as the national body for standards.  It performs the role of the Ethiopian Standards body for the Ethiopian government. Add a comment Add a comment

The manufacturing plant constructed by Addis Transformer and Switchgears plc is ready to launch production. The company, which is a joint venture between Ethiopian company Bridgetech plc and Emirati Company Al-Nasser Industrial Enterprises, subsidiary Federal Transformer LLC was set up with a 300 million birr capital.

The factory constructed on 2500 meter squares at the Tatek Industrial Zone, in Oromia Regional state cost an estimated 100 million birr said Yeshiwas Shibabaw, managing director of Bridgetech Plc.

It took eighteen months to complete the construction work on the factory intended to manufacture switch gears as well as transformers. Add a comment Add a comment