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Alliance Transport Service S.C, Ethiopia signed an agreement for the import of 50 buses with Chinese manufacturer Xiamen King Long Automotive Industry. The deal was agreed for 72 million birr.

The agreement stipulated that parts of the pass including the engine will come from British company Kemens Engine with Xiamen handling the bodywork and assembly of the buses.

The buses, expected to arrive in three months, will have the capacity to seat up to 100 people offering modern conveniences and comfort to travelers according to officials from Alliance.

Yetebaberut Behrawi Petroleum S.C, Ethiopian announced a net profit of 18.7 million birr for the last Ethiopian financial year. The company’s profits were 13% above target announced Tsega Asamere Board Chairman at the annual meeting of the company held on the 2nd of January at the Hilton Hotel.

YBP made 27.6 million birr in profits before tax after earning 3.342 billion birr in revenue from the sale of 253.6 million liters of fuel said Tsega. YBP also raised 60.5 million birr through providing 34,000 liters of oil he added.

The petrol station operator has seen a 45 percent increase in sales from the previous year explained Tsega.

The construction of the Adama Wind Power Project, Ethiopia is progressing satisfactorily it was reported. 17 wind turbine towers are in place at this time, installed by the contractor for the project Hydro China-CGCOC, a Chinese partnership.

Construction on the wind power project launched in July of last year is planned to complete within a year.

It is expected that the project will generate 51 MW of electric power after all 34 proposed turbines are installed.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation scrapped a proposed plan to restructure. The restructure called for Ethiopia’s electric power provider to be split into four separate entities.

A 33 million birr study carried out by Italian consultants Ben and Company had proposed the four way split into Power Distribution, General Administration, Utility Management, and Hydroelectric Power Dams.

It was planned that that the split into four different entities, that was to commence as of last November, would make the operations of EEPCo more efficient.

Annual inflation rate in Ethiopia fell to 35.9% in December following a decline in some food costs reported the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency.

Prices increased by 1.7% during December with food prices climbing by just 0.2% due to a decrease in the price of some pulses and cereals said the Agency.

Diageo plc plans to increase its share of Ethiopia’s beer market from 15% to 50% as it finalizes its takeover of Meta Ambo Brewery, Ethiopia. The international liquor manufacturer would like to develop the business and overcome the competition in Ethiopia said Ekwunife Okoli, Head of African regional markets for Diageo.

Diageo will invest in enhancing capacity to increase supply according to Nick Blazquez, President for Diageo Africa. The producer expects to introduce other of its products to Ethiopia he noted.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is considering a new bill to certify the competence of exporters, importers, wholesalers and retailers in the IT and electronic sector in Ethiopia.

The bill has been sent to the Ethiopian Information and Communications Technology group for review.

The new will bill require industry operators to hire a range of professionals from various fields including technicians to maintain and service electronic and IT equipment to receive accreditation.

Ethiopia’s Petroleum Enterprise is seeking a supplier for anthracite coal to power furnaces for smaller cement factories with vertical kilns. The factories are allegedly unable to utilize the steam coal being imported from South Africa as it could undermine the quality of their product.

Six smaller cement factories in Ethiopia, Abyssinia Cement, CH Clinker, Debresina Cement, Enchini Medrock Cement, Hungh Shun Cement, and Jemma Cement lodged complaints with the Ministry of Trade claiming that they would not be able to use the steam coal being imported for use by cement factories in Ethiopia.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is to begin operating the core banking system by the end of January. Commercial Bank signed an agreement with the Temenos Group AG, a Swiss firm, to procure the IT software for an estimated 70 million birr.

The National Bank of Ethiopia instructed all commercial to adopt core banking solutions in July of last year.

The use of core banking solutions is expected to achieve a nationwide electronic payment system according to the central bank’s targets.

The Metal and Engineering Corporation of Ethiopia has agreed to replace the electric meters operated by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. The project is valued at nine billion birr and will exchange electric meters for new ‘smart’ meters.

The new ‘smart’ digital meters are expected to automatically register electric consumption and report back to EEPCo without requiring manual reading like the analog meters currently being used.

MetEC has employed an estimated 2000 workers to be paid per every new meter they install according to sources.