2merkato

Ethiopia’s United Bank is set to open its first branch in the capital city of Southern Sudan, Juba. The bank will be the first Ethiopian private bank to enter the newest country in Africa.

A branch in the new oil rich nation is expected to be significantly lucrative for the bank according to officials.

United is also planning to open branches in other African countries in its bid to become a competitive financial institute on the continent said Berhanu Getaneh, President of the Bank.

Sugar cane plantations are under development in Ethiopia on 6000 hectares of land in Southern Omo. The plantations are intended to serve the six Omo Kuraz Sugar factories.

The plantations are part of plans to cover 15 hectares ever year for the coming five years said Tilahun Deneke, Head of the Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project Office.

Ethiopia has allocated 225 million US dollars for the development of each factory to be constructed by the Metal and Engineering Corp. The assessment and design of the Omo Kuraz Sugar projects is currently underway under the supervision of the Southern Ethiopia Design and Supervision Enterprise and the Ethiopian Waterworks Design and Supervision Enterprise.

The Ethiopian Quality Awards honored nine organizations with awards for quality in a ceremony held at the Hilton Hotel in the presence of Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hailemariam Desalegn.

The excellence awards were given to Biruh Tesfa Irrigation and Water Technology, Bishoftu Hospital, Dashen Brewery, Harar Brewery, Kality Metal Factory and Kombolcha Textile SC, while Betel Teaching Hospital and Mekelle University and Kombolcha Steel Products Industry were the recipients of merit awards.

The Gross Domestic Product of Ethiopia has shown a growth of 11.4% in the first year of the five year development plan according to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The nation’s economic fundamentals remained strong in the budget year in spite of significant challenges including the global economic meltdown and domestic inflation said Sufian Ahmed Minister of Finance speaking at a workshop.

Foreign export revenue showed a growth of 37.1% during the same period with increases recorded in the volume of major export goods and driven by increasing international commodity prices as well policies enacted to enhance competitiveness of products on the market according to Sufian.

Ethiopia’s Airport Enterprise received the International Civil Aviation Organization certification for Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, making it one of a handful of airports in Africa who have the certificate.

A UN agency based in Canada, ICAO establishes the principles and techniques for international air navigation and promotes the planning and development to ensure the safety and orderly growth of international air transport.

The Airport’s Enterprise trained its personnel and obtain new technology to meet the Agency’s criteria for certification explained an official.

Premium Print plc is to build a factory with the potential to produce 40,000 toner cartridges annually in Ethiopia.

The company, in partnership with EC Solutions, A British company, plans to substitute the import of toner cartridges into the country as well as to export to the regional market.

Premium Print launched the assembly of toner cartridges three months ago with a monthly production rate of 200 cartridges at a workshop it is renting until it acquires land to build its factory.

Berhan International Bank, Ethiopia has contracted with Ernst and Young to carry out an IT security audit to allow the bank to launch internet banking services.

The bank signed the agreement last week for an undisclosed amount of money estimated to be as much as 50,000 US dollars depending on the size of the bank and the range of the services that it intends to offer said Amaha Bekele, IT Advisory Head with Ernst and Young, East Africa.

Ernst and Young committed to finalizing the project within six weeks.

Flintstone Engineering, Ethiopia is to construct light industry shops furnished with all necessary machinery and equipment for sale.The shops are to be constructed for the manufacture of accessories, printing, leather, apparel and printing.

The shops will be built on land it has leased from the Addis Ababa City Administration.

Flintstone plans to construct 300 manufacturing shops in the first phase of the project with each unit ranging from 10m2 to 40 m2 explained Tsedeke Yihune, Founder and Chief Executive of Flintstone.

The annual inflation rate in Ethiopia slowed to 32.5% in March from 35.3% in February announced the Central Statistics Agency.

Food prices rose by 40.9% in March as compared to the same time last year, which is lower than the 47.4% increase seen in February. Non food inflation also eased rising 20.4% year on year as compared to 21.5% the month before.

Consumer prices month on month rose by 4.6% in March from 2.7% the previous month according to the report from the agency.

Ethiopia signed Double Taxation Agreements with four countries; China, India, Egypt and Sudan.

The agreements were presented to the House of Peoples’ Representatives for approval with the agreements expected to become active once they are ratified by the House.

The agreements will protect investors from double taxes on the same declared income thus enabling business from China, India Egypt and Sudan to pay income tax only once according to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.