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Total Ethiopia showcased three different types of solar lamps. The lamps have the potential to continuously give light for eight to ten hours non stop.

The solar lamps can also be used to recharge mobile phones in the eventuality of a black out. The solar lamps are available for sale at all Total Service stations.

Total also introduced environmentally friendly oil tanker technology. The new tanker is double layered equipped with a siren alert in the case of leakage helping to reduce pollution.

Ethiopia’s newly formed accreditation office, the Ethiopian National Accreditation Office, has received applications from five laboratories in Addis Ababa. ENAO will evaluate the laboratories and assess if they are able to meet the standards set by it.

ENAO accreditation means third party attestation that a laboratory has demonstrable competence to carry out its task said Genet Gebremedhin, Accreditation Director with ENAO.

In the past Ethiopian laboratories had to receive accreditation from international agencies from countries such as Germany and South Africa at a great deal of expense.

British Midland International is to suspend its flight between Heathrow and Bole International Airport, Ethiopia as of the 11th of June.

The last flight to travel from Heathrow to Bole will be on Sunday 10th of June with the return flight scheduled for Monday 11th June said the press release from the airline.

BMI notified ticket agents of the suspension on the 25th of May with travel agents told to accommodate passengers on alternative flights for flight scheduled before June 10-11 or to give full refunds it was learned.

The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) announced it will further strengthen the warehouse receipt financing scheme during the opening of the Warehouse Receipt System for Inclusive Agricultural Finance Symposium.

The scheme makes farmers eligible for bank loan using their Warehouse Receipt issued by the Exchange for commodities stored in ECX warehouses as collateral.

ECX Chief Executive Officer, Eleni Gebre-Medhin, told participants at the Warehouse Receipt Systems for Inclusive Agricultural Finance Symposium, organized jointly by ECX and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), amount exceeding 1.5 million USD warehouse receipt financing service was made available to framers last year. The scheme has considerably assisted smallholder farmers who would have no choice but to sell produce at low prices.

Buna International Bank, Ethiopia signed an agreement to implement CORE Banking Solutions with Infosys. BIB signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian based Infosys for the installation of the system which will allow the bank to launch electronic banking, last week.

Infosys will commence with deploying the project in three weeks after negotiations are concluded between the two sides said Gezahegn Dugassa, Project Manager for ICT with BIB.  It is expected that part of the new system will be implemented by the Ethiopian New Year, the deadline imposed by the National Bank of Ethiopia on all banks to automate their banking services, he noted.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, will take delivery of the second lot of Bombardier Q400 Next Gen airplane in the last quarter of 2012 it was learned.

The aircraft are expected to arrive between September and December said Esete Yeshitla, Acting Public Relations and Publications Manager with the airline.

The five remaining planes have been upgraded with bigger baggage compartments, seven business class seats, two lavatories and spacious overhead compartments and the ability to furnish hot meals. 

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Construction and Business Bank, both state managed institutions, have reached an agreement to establish an integrated card payment system that will allow customers to withdraw money from common Automated Teller Machines.

The Commercial bank currently operates 58 ATMs and is waiting on delivery of 400 more it ordered a month ago. The construction bank is also expecting delivery of 20 ATMs ordered at the same time allowing the two banks to have almost 500 ATMs between them.

The Memorandum of Understanding establishing the arrangement signed earlier this month requires the CBB to pay fees to the commercial bank for the use of its technology.

Turkish Textile company, Sahinler Ethiopia Textile Investment plc, received a 628 million birr loan from the Development bank of Ethiopia. The company is expected to engage in the manufacture of clothing, knitted items and a range of items at its plant in Adama.

The company originally applied for a loan of 1 billion birr according to anonymous sources.

The Development bank generally gives less money than what is requested because companies tend to inflate their financial requirements due to budget or currency exchange rate consideration explained Tadesse Hatiya, Vice President of Credit Services with DBE.

Horizon Addis, the only tire manufacturer in Ethiopia, is set to invest 1.1 billion birr on an expansion project. Horizon is in the process of negotiations with one of the top tire manufacturers in the world, Continental Germany, to exchange its antiquated machinery for the latest equipment.

One of the new machines that Horizon is planning to install is a 30 million birr machine that can produce 80,000 pieces of light truck radial tire every year. It is expected that the new machine will begin production in the coming September allowing Horizon to supply higher quality truck and bus tires.

It is expected that the expansion program will be completed in 18 months according to Belay Dechasa, General Manager of Horizon.

Ethiopia’s year on year inflation rate has dropped for a third month in a row compared to 29.9 pc in April to 25.5 pc in May owing to the ease in food prices, according to the Central Statistics Agency on Tuesday. It has fallen from 36.3 pc in February.

Food inflation declined to 29.2 pc in May from 36 pc in April while non-food inflation remains fixed at 19.6 pc, the Central Statistics Agency said.

Many of the poorest African countries including Ethiopia have been affected by upsurge of oil prices and poor crop harvest which in turn induced double digit inflation rates.

Source: Reuters