2merkato

The Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association reached a partnership agreement with the Ethiopian Development Research Institute.

The collaboration between the two organizations is intended to enhance development in the private sector through improving the low performance seen in the areas of business competition, managerial skills and lack of flexibility.

Profit in the market generally arises from efficiency but traditional practices in the Ethiopian market allow dominant traders to benefit from largely inefficient means which is abnormal explained Newai Gebre-ab, Executive Director of the EDRI.

The Metal and Engineering Corporation concluded a deal to acquire the Ethiopian Riviera International Hotel, primarily owned by Alem Fitsum.

The deal includes the three star hotel and a PVC and plastics manufacturing plant located behind the hotel.

The deal was struck for approximately 140 million birr with negotiation still going on and handover expected in the coming weeks according to sources. MetEc aims to utilize the hotel to house guests that will stay for more than a month saving it a lot of money according to an unofficial source with the corporation.

Addis International Bank has reached an agreement worth 600,000 US dollars with Intrasoft Technologies Ltd. for the Installation of its CORE Banking Solution.

The Indian based technology supplier IntraSoft will provide centralized, online, real time, electronic banking solutions as per the mandatory requirement set by the National Bank of Ethiopia.

Addis is the last of the 17 operational banks in Ethiopia to reach such an agreement with a software company.

The Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives approved the budget for the federal government just began fiscal year yesterday.

The bill was endorsed by the parliament with one abstention after the house studied the report and recommendation presented by the Standing Committee for Budgetary and Financial Affairs.

The house also approved the Chat Excise Tax proclamation which is designed to ensure equity in the collection of tax due on Chat trade.

The number of companies offering the mandatory vehicle inspection services on contract with the Ethiopian Federal transport Authority has increased to 29 with eight more business entering into agreements with the authority it was said.

The eight new businesses offering the service are Anbessa City Bus, United Auto Maintenance, Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum. Lucy Car Sales and Caliper Metal Works Engineering in Addis Ababa and Mekonnen Sayed and Arba Minch Mekane Yesus in the Legetafo and Arba Minch areas.

Some of the new service providers have been able to install the machinery required for inspection purposes while others are in the process of acquiring it said Negussie Kebede, Director of the Vehicle Inspection Certificate Directorate with the authority.

There are one million hectares available in Ethiopia suitable for Jatropha development according to the Ministry of Water and Energy.

The land is to be found in the Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, Tigray and Southern regional states according to Bizuneh Tolcha, Director of Communications and Public Relations with the ministry.  

The development of Jatropha, alongside other bio-diesel plants, is already being implemented by investors on area of 85 thousand hectares of land of which 4 thousand hectares are covered by Jatropha he explained.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy signed agreements with Chinese and British companies for the implementation of a solar energy project. The contract with Chinese Poly technologies is worth 208 million birr while the contract signed with Yoseph and Elizabeth International Trading plc is worth 10 million birr.

The agreement was signed by Alemayehu Tegenu, State Minister for Water and Energy, Xie Xiaoyan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Cheng Zerong, Vice President of Poly Technologies and Yoseph Getachew, Managing Director Of YEIT plc.

The contract allows for 25,000 solar home systems with different capacities ranging from 8 watts to 130 watts to facilitate rural electrification to power domestic uses said Alemayehu speaking on the occasion.

The Ethiopian Standards Agency announced that it has approved more than 2000 new and revised quality standards in seven sectors in the completed fiscal year.

An estimated 15,000 of the standards approved are new while the other 500 or so are revisions of existing standards according to Daniel Zenebe, Communication and Public Relations Head for the Agency.

The standards approved by the agency are expected to play a notable role in enhancing the productivity of the domestic industries and support the transfer of technology he noted.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has earned more than 7 billion birr in the current Ethiopian fiscal year said a senior official with the bank.

The profits earned by the bank are higher then projected incomes for the financial year said the official.

The current gross of more than 7 billion birr is 67% higher than that of last year when the bank earned 4.2 billion birr.
The performance of the bank’s International Banking Department and the head office contributed a significant portion to the bank’s high profits.

Ethiopia suspended the production of tantalum concentrate at the Kenticha Tantalum Mine. The Ethiopian Minerals Development Enterprise stopped the production of tantalum to support the manufacture of value added tantalum products as per instructions from the Ministry of Mines.

The ban could also be due to the increasing contamination with uranium, a radioactive element, which is making it impossible to ship the raw material.

The uranium contaminated mineral has been mined by local traditional miners with no negative health consequences reported as of yet explained Traditional Mining Department of the MoM.