2merkato

The year on year inflation rate in Ethiopia fell to 29.8% in April from 32.5% in March showing a decrease for the second straight month according to the Central Statistics Agency.

Year on year food prices also lowered to 36.7% from 40.9% in March while non-food inflation decreased to 19.6% from 20.4% the previous month said the agency.

The inflation rate month on month also decreased to 2.1% in April from 4.6% in March showed the statistics.

The National Standards Council of Ethiopia approved 536 additional standards on goods and services. The new standards are part of the national strategic goals explained Legesse Genre, Director of the Ethiopian Standards Agency.

The standards for cement, fertilizers, metal products, health care equipment, pumps, leather and leather products were approved by the NSC. Twelve health care facility standards are compulsory out of the total of 536 standards.

The project to execute a modern residential address system in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is showing promising progress according to the Integrated Land Management Information Project Development Office.

The program was launched in two sub-cities as part of the plan to set up an address system dividing streets, blocks and house numbers.

A manual has been prepared to help number each street and house in partnership with hansa Luftbild Consulting, a German company according to Ephrem Belete, Office Unit Coordinator. An address map has already been developed for two woredas and 98% of sign posts have already been put up he said.

The Revenues and Customs Authority in Ethiopia collected 52.93 billion birr from non-tax and tax income in the last nine months.

ERCA collected 26.4 billion birr making up 90.87% of its target of 29.13 billion birr in tax and non-tax revenue domestically said Efrem Mekonnen, Director of the Education and Information Directorate with the tax authority.

The revenue raised has shown a 47.7% increase from the same period last budget year according to Efrem.

Ethiopian Entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun, founder and Chief Executive of Sole Rebels footwear was selected by The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship for the Social Entrepreneur of The Year Award at the 2012 World Economic Forum on Africa. The World Economic Forum is taking place in Addis Ababa from the 9th of May to the 11th.

The panel for the award included Quincy Jones, American music icon and Muhammad Yunus Nobel Prize Laureate and father of microfinance amongst other international luminaries.

Bethlehem is the first Ethiopian to win the award.

The Revenues and Customs Authority of Ethiopia has requested that all Non Governmental Organizations to submit their service and goods procurement lists for the past four years.

ERCA has requested that the NGOs received a letter from the authority with an attached form to deliver the requested information according to sources. The organizations are expected to deliver the information within a month.

The NGOs are expected to state the name of their suppliers for goods and services procured in the past four years along with their tax identification number. The authority requires all goods and services procured in the country and imports to be filled out on the form with the full information of the providers.

Ethiopia received 50 million US dollars from the Climate Investment Fund after the country’s investment plan under the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program for Low Income Countries was approved by the committee members for the CIF.

The decision was rendered at the CIF committee meetings that took place in Washington DC from the 30th April to the 4th of May. The African Development Bank, as the implementing agency of the Climate Investment Fund, represented African interests at the week-long meetings.

The plan presented by Ethiopia calls for the African Bank to offer investment and technical support to execute Phase II of the Aluto Langano Geo-thermal Project and Assela Wind Farm Project. The AFDB is expected to inject 23 million US dollars of the total SREP financing to the Ethiopian projects.

The Fourth Addis International Construction and Third Real Estate Trade Fair was held in the capital of Ethiopia from the 3rd to the 6th of May. The fair was organized by HPP Ethiopia, a Dutch company and an estimated 40 companies exhibiting domestic products and imports were featured.

Several local manufacturers of construction materials took part in the fair such as Oromia Pipe factory, and Ethiopian Steel PLC.

The international conference on oilseeds, pulses and spices held in Ethiopia boosted exports and increased revenue.

The conference held in March was attended by many international delegates and has resulted in enhanced market links with buyers and brokers according to experts in the sector.

The price of sesame which was 1350 birr a quintal before the conference increased to 1,550 just two weeks after the conference they noted.

Coffee exports in Ethiopia were 50% below target in the past nine months of the financial year and are expected to decrease even further.

Ethiopia had anticipated raising 1.17 billion US dollars from the export of 288,000 tons of coffee. The failure to meet targets was due to the instability of the international market claimed Kebede Chane Minister of Trade. It is expected that coffee exports will reach 70% of target by the end of the fiscal year he said.

The country exported 98,000 tons of coffee in the first nine months which amounted to 48% of target exports raising 66% of the target revenue.