2merkato

Ethio Telecom (formerly known as Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation), now managed by a French company, made a record profit in the first year of the two-year contract.

The net profit has not been declared but sources at the telecom company say that it is likely to be higher than ever before.

The company had planned to make 9.9 billion birr and grossed 9.1 billion birr in the just ended fiscal year which is greater than that of the previous fiscal year by 2.1 billion.

Karuturi Global is planning to produce rice, maize and soybeans over 20,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia.

Karuturi, founder and managing director of the company, said that the 20,000 hectares of plantation would come up in the Oromia and Gambella regional states.

According to Karuturi, the 20,000 hectares of land is part of 100,000 hectares the company has leased from the government in 2009.

He said that the company had also planted a variety of crops like rice, maize and sugarcane in other regions of Ethiopia, besides planting roses on many farms.

Tigray has launched an 11,000-metre first phase drill program at Harvest project.

Tigray Resources Inc., a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on advancing early stage mineral projects in Ethiopia, announced yesterday that it would begin trading on the TSX Venture Exchange today under the symbol TIG.

Early this month Tigray Resources Inc had received conditional listing approval from the TSX Venture Exchange.

OTC Markets Group Inc announced today that Ethiopian Potash Corp., a Canadian mineral exploration company, was now trading on the highest tier of the OTC market, OTCQX.

Ethiopian Potash began trading today on the OTC market's prestigious tier, OTCQX International.

"The OTCQX platform offers investor-focused companies a winning combination of quality control, transparency, and broader visibility to U.S. investors," said R. Cromwell Coulson, president and CEO of OTC Markets Group. 

Ethiopia plans to export 206 million dollars worth of leather products in the current fiscal year.

That is almost double the income the country received last year, when it made 104.1 million dollars from leather.

The Leather Industry Development Institute (LIDI) is going to make 54,000 pairs of shoes a day, up by 35,000 pairs than its current production.

Ethiopia achieved 73 percent of its target from the export of leather in the fiscal year to 8 July 2011, Wondu Legesse, director general of the institute, said.

Ethiopian coffee farmers must have business plan, audited income to be eligible for the loan. 

The Cooperative Bank of Oromia (CBO) is going to offer 60 million birr in loans to coffee farmers’ cooperatives through a risk sharing agreement it signed last month with Rabo Bank Foundation (a Netherlands based bank) and its sister company Rabo Rural Fund.

Through the agreement the CBO can extend loans to farmers for which Rabo will guarantee 50 percent of the loan if defaulted.

Coffee farmers who wish to benefit from the offer are expected to form a cooperative to be eligible, Wondemageghu Neger, president of the bank, said.

Awash International Bank (AIB), one of the private banks in Ethiopia, made a 510 million birr gross profit in the fiscal year to 8 July 2011, outdoing its previous year unaudited gross profit by 38.3 percent.

The performance is also 14 percent higher than the bank's internal plan.

In the same year, the paid up capital of the bank grew by 40 percent from 550 million birr to 734 million birr. This was done on the decision of shareholders to raise the bank's paid up capital to one billion birr within three years.

A new study proposed that the 10 percent excise tax imposed on imported textile products be lifted.

The study also suggested that separate taxes be imposed on finished and partially finished textile products replacing the indiscriminate 35 percent tax.

The proposal was made following a study by the association of textile producers in collaboration with concerned government bodies.

Results of the study indicated that the association and the government had reached a common understanding that it was not right that all kinds of textile products should be taxed uniformly, Sleshi Lemma, director general of the Institute of Textile Industry, said.  

Ethiopian Airlines entered into a code share agreement last week with Asiana Airlines, the award winning South Korean airline, to enhance the growing cooperation with Star Alliance member carriers.

The Ethiopian Airlines said that the partnership between Ethiopian and Asiana would provide passengers of both airlines with greater flight options and better connections between Africa and Asia.

A delegation of about 30 Indian companies led by Karuturi, the world's largest flower producer, last week expressed interest in investing in the agro business sector in Ethiopia.

Indian companies have so far invested about 5.5 billion dollars and Karuturi said that the newly coming Indian investors would significantly push up the figure.

Karuturi is currently engaged in farming flower, palm oil, rice and maize on 100,000 hectares of land in the Gambella Regional State and Bako in the Eastern Wollega Zone of Oromia Region.