2merkato

A letter urging Ethiopian private banks to purchase new Treasury bills was sent out by the National Bank. The new bills will be charged to the banks’ Payment and Settlement Accounts (PSAs) at the NBE.

An agreement in regards to the purchase of the new bills was made between the Ethiopian Bankers Association and National Bank officials stated Yohannes Ayalew, Chief Economist and Vice Governor of Monetary Stability at the NBE, in his letter to the banks.

Private Banks will purchase T-bills to the value of the money in their PSAs, which approximates 3% of their total deposit according to the agreement mentioned in the letter.

Ethiopian Airlines announced that it will start code sharing with Singapore Airlines as of November 01, 2011. This agreement allows the two carriers to provide joint flight services between Addis Ababa and Singapore through Dubai.

Ethiopian Airlines further announced that the tickets for the code share flight will be available for sale immediately. The agreement between the two international carriers allows passengers to have wider range of flight services between Africa and Asia.

The Ethiopian Manufacturing Sector has earned an income of 72 million US dollars in the first quarter of the current fiscal year according to the Ministry of Industry.

Ethiopia has set out to acquire 471.2 million US dollars in revenue from leather, agro-processing, textile, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors this budget year according to Melaku Taye, Communication Director for the MoI.  The revenue registered for the first quarter exceeded that earned in the same time period of the last fiscal year by 104.4% explained Melaku.

An estimated 40,000 condominium housing will be built in Addis Ababa City during the present fiscal year according to the city administration. It is expected that more than 72,000 people will be employed by the construction project said Kuma Demeksa, Mayor of Addis Ababa.

The construction of the 20,000 condos already underway is expected to be completed over the next two months said Kuma. He also added that the 17,000 condos began this year will be completed by April.

The Ethiopian government has focused on the housing sector and low cost condominiums are being built in the capital and regional cities.


Source: Ethiopian Press Agency

Dashen Bank Share Company announced a profit of more than 630 million birr in 2010/11 fiscal year. The announcement was made at the 17th regular meeting of the bank on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Bank paid 179 million birr in profit tax to the government from its profit according to Teklu Haile Chairperson of the Board of Directors.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation signed an agreement with ABB to extend and upgrade transmission substations. The project to upgrade the existing substations in the central part of Ethiopia is expected to cost around 26 million US dollars.

ABB will be expected to enhance the automation, telecommunication, protection and control systems of the substations.
The agreement signed with EEPC mandates ABB with designing engineering, supplying, constructing and commissioning the substations. The contractor will also be responsible for all civil work.

Nyala Insurance Share Company (NISC) announced its commitment to improve the accessibility of insurance services in rural areas in Ethiopia this week. The Insurance Company is taking various measures to benefit rural communities according to Eyob Meherette, Company Chief Executive Officer.  

A large percent of rural communities have no access to insurance services Eyob explained at a meeting for shareholders held at the Sheraton Addis. The company is resolved to benefit underprivileged communities in rural areas he stated.  

The 2011 Information Economy Report has disclosed that Ethiopian mobile phone penetration is a little more than 7%. The report was released on October 19th by the UN Conference on Trade and Development in association with the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Expansion of mobile phone services may require an atmosphere of competition between different service providers according to Remi Lang, Economic Affairs officer at UNCTAD. Opening the telecom industry to foreign competitors could result in better performance he suggested.

The Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECX) is to review a proposal for trading in chickpeas and sorghum. The exchange announced plans to introduce the two commodities alongside Teff at its fourth national forum.

An industry study has already been done for chickpeas and sorghum said Bemnet Aschenaki chief strategy officer for the ECX. The study was done on samples collected by the ECX quality and product development team as per suggestions outlined by a technical advisory board explained Bemnet.

Dashen Bank launched electronic banking services for Union Card holders this week. This service is aimed to serve the increasing numbers of Union Card holders including the growing number of Chinese citizens in Ethiopia according to Lulseged Teferi President of Dashen Bank.

Dashen Bank is the first Bank in Africa to sign a partnership agreement with UnionPay said Lulseged. It is expected that agreement with UnionPay, which has over 2.5 billion clients worldwide, will significantly influence the growth of Dashen he explained.