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United Bank, Ethiopia awarded the contract to upgrade its data center, to Seven Seas Technologies Group, a Kenyan Technology firm.

The contract estimated to be worth nine million birr stipulates that the work will be accomplished in four months.

The data center will allow space for the effective functioning of the core banking system that has been implemented by United Bank according to officials.

The Investment Agency in Ethiopia is investigating the operations of Alliance Media to evaluated if it operating as per its license.

The agency is assessing if the South African company is manufacturing billboard panels as per its license said Tewodros Tamiru, Director of the Legal Directorate with the EIA.

Allegations have been rife that Alliance is engaged in advertising activities by renting the panels it has erected across the city for advertisement purposes, a sector reserved for Ethiopian nationals.

Ethiopia has earned 172.5 million US dollars in revenue from the manufacturing sector in the last 8 months according to the Ministry of Industry.

The revenue was generated from the garment, leather and leather products, textile, chemical and pharmaceutical and agro processing sub sectors said Melaku Taye, Corporate Communication Director for the Ministry.

The money earned was 54.2 million US dollars more than the same period last year although it is just 60% of the target set by the ministry said Melaku.

Ethiopia released the Interim Report on Poverty for 2010-11 last week. The Household Income Consumption and Expenditure Survey for 2010-11 showed that the poverty head count in Ethiopia is 29.6%

The proportion of poor people as established by this survey showed a significant decline from 2004-05 when the index was 38.7%.

Poverty rate has decreased in both rural and urban areas, with a more marked decline in urban areas according to the data analysis.

The 10th ‘Annual Innovation Digital Summit’ is to be held in Addis Ababa, from the 27th to the 29th of March according to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Ethiopia.

 The summit will be attended by participants from at least 500 communication and information firms as well as service providers and country representatives said a press release from the Ministry.

It is expected that large communication and information companies will attend the summit which will include a range of issues.  

Ethiopian News Agency

The tax authority in Ethiopia, expects to generate increased revenue in the coming years in spite of challenges said Tedla Mitiku,Tax Payers Education Team Coordinator with the authority.

Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority faced challenges including illegal trade, contraband and lack of awareness amongst the tax payers, he said.

ERCA is working with a range of bodies to lower the incidence of tax fraud and illegal trade practices to set in place a viable tax system according to Tedla.

National Mining Corporation announced the discovery of gold deposits in Southern Ethiopia estimated at 10 metric tons a year, nearly double of the current national output.

The Okote site has shown to have more than 550 tons of gold with 73 tons expected to be ready for extraction in 2 years said Melaku Beza, Chief Executive Officer of National Mining.

The company is planning to invest 150 million US dollars to initiate the first phase of the production he said.

Nyota minerals announced an 82% upgrade and increase for its Tulu Kapi gold concession in Ethiopia following additional drilling.

The resource has been upgraded to 831 000 ounces of gold at 3.01 g/t and an inferred resource of 841 000 oz at 2.79 g/t.

The mineral resource totally in Tulu Kapi now stands at 17.97 million tons of 2.9 g/t grade gold ore translating to 1.67-million ounces gold.

Ethiopia earned 71.1 million US dollars from the export of leather and leather products in the past seven months of the Ethiopian budget year according to the Ethiopian Leather Industries Association.

The revenue was earned from the export of finished and semi-processed leather products noted Abdisa Adugna, Secretary General of the ELIA.

The money earned from the export of leather is 25 million US dollars more than the 46 million US dollars in revenue earned in the same period last year said Abdisa.

The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, made up of the Wonji Shewa, Metehara and Finchaa sugar factories in Ethiopia, produced 73,862 tons of sugar in the first two quarters of the Ethiopian fiscal year.

The sugar Corporation was able to distribute 206,372 tons of locally produced sugar in the last six months in addition to its imported stock.

The sugar factories were also able to produce 3,885,760 liters of ethanol as a by-product of sugar production to be blended with benzene to lower the costs of gasoline imports.