2merkato

The Ethiopian Ministry of Urban Development and Construction revealed the final draft of the urban housing policy and strategy.
The strategy proposes the increase of housing through eight modalities to solve housing shortage in urban areas.

The document was presented to regional and federal officials, members of the House of Representatives, private real estate developers and experts in the sector.

The government will play an important role in developing urban housing as it is to be the sole executor of five of the eight means of increasing available housing according to the housing policy.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade is doing trial runs for Online Trade Registration and Licensing System. The 300 million birr project was initiated by the federal government and is expected to be launched on a national level.

The software for the OTRLS program, which would replace the current manual business registration process, was developed by Custor Computing plc at a total cost of 1 million birr. The online system will not require applicants for a new business license or those seeking renewal of licenses to appear in person at the ministry offices except to pick up the physical copy of the license issued.

The new system allows a person to log into the system to obtain information on the requirements for a particular type of business license or for renewal. The individual can then go on to fill out the appropriate form and attach scanned copies of supporting documentation such as there Tax Identification Number and business details.

Ethiopia is ready to approve a mining license for Nyota Minerals Ltd to allow it to develop the Tulu Kapi gold concession that it had been in the process of exploring according to Sinknesh Ejigu, Minister of Mines.

The ministry has agreed with the company on the technical and environment terms of the arrangement and is in the process of finalizing the economical aspects said Sinknesh. It is expected that Nyota will obtain the mining license at the end of the negotiations she said.

Traditional artisan miners, in Benchimaji Zone, raised more than 177.2 million birr in revenue from the supply of more than 211 kilograms of gold to the National Bank of Ethiopia in the last quarter according to regional authorities.

The gold supplied to the central bank was mined Anjo, Gebisa Shola, Siali and Gesena in the Berona and Surma Woredas according to Tessema Shari, Department Expert of the Zonal Water and Energy Department of the region.

The revenue raised was 47.2 million birr higher than that raised in the previous year he noted. The increase in revenue was due to the technical support provided for miners and the legalization of the mining activities of traditional miners as well as other factors he noted.

The 'Colors of the Nile International Film Festival', organized by the collaboration of the Ethiopian Film Makers Association and the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy is being held in Ethiopia between the 7th and the 11th of November.

The festival is going to include a range of activities and training opportunities according to Abraham Haile, President of the Festival. A range of workshops designed to develop the talents of Ethiopian filmmakers will also be part of the festival he said.

It is expected that 28 African countries will be represented in the 58 selected movies that will be a part of the festival. The festival was opened by the Alan Gomez film ‘Tey’ which has already won different awards at several international festivals.

The festival will place films in competition in different categories such ‘Documentary’, ‘long Story’ and ‘Short Story’ said Abraham.

The Ethiopian oilseeds, spices and pulses export sector has registered a revenue growth of 31 percent. Export from the sector has grown from 539 thousand tons to 608 thousand tons in the previous financial year resulting in corresponding increasing in revenue from 506.2 million US dollars to 663.6 million US dollars.

The Ethiopian oilseeds, pulses and spices export sector is showing steady growth alongside other exports according to Kebede Chane, Minister for Trade. The ministry anticipates that overall revenue from export revenue will reach 10.4 billion US dollars by the end of the development program he noted.

It is to be remembered that the country earned 470 million US dollars from the export sector in the previous sector with the oilseeds sector recording the best performance. The Ministry of trade plans to increase the revenue earned in the current fiscal year to 626 million US dollars.

Ethiopia is looking for Indian, Ukrainian and Turkish companies to supply steel billets to reduce manufacturing costs of the domestic steel sector.

The import of the billets will be facilitated by the Ethiopian Metal Industries Development Institute. The plan for the government import of the billet for the steel sector was generated within the industry said Workeneh Delelegn, Director General of the EMIDI.

The program is expected to benefit the seven Reinforcement Bar manufacturing industries currently in operation in the country.

Nib International Bank S.C, Ethiopia announced that it had made a net profit of 286.2 million birr in the last financial year.
The bank noted that this revenue showed an increase of 16% from the revenue the bank had earned in the previous financial year.

The profits earned by the bank in the last fiscal year are due to the successful efforts it has exerted in its service according to Amerga Kassa, President of the Bank. The bank still has areas that are in need of improvement to maintain this performance or even to surpass it he noted.

The profit earned by the bank ,which is an all time high, in spite of the foreign exchange shortage and the National Bank directive establishing that private banks invest 27% of their loan disbursement in National Bank bills.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority is set to implement a five year ‘Bridge Improvement Master Plan’ to help archive information on bridges and to register the standard of service in the country.

The project is expected to cost above 394 million birr according to Samson Wondimu, Head of Public Relations with the authority.

About 20 million birr has been allocated for the construction and maintenance of bridges in this fiscal year he said.

A high level business delegation from India made a visit to Addis Ababa last week. The delegation included representatives from 23 businesses many of whom were from the commercial capital of India, Mumbai.

Most of the businesses represented seem to be interested in capital intensive long term investment in a range of sectors such as sugar, energy, and mining.

The visit from the business delegation was organized through the Ethiopian Consulate in Mumbai.

Ethiopia shares the model of the Indian export driven economic strategy especially in light of the similar socio0economic and cultural settings shared by the two countries said Mulu Solomon, President of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, and Sectoral Association.