2merkato

The Development Bank of Ethiopia has earned 71.4 million birr in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The profit earned by the bank is 52% more than what it earned in the same period last year but 2 million birr less than its target.

The Development Bank also exceeded its target for loan approvals by approximately 1 billion birr in the last quarter. Loan approvals were especially concentrated in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) announced that it has raised 1.6 billion birr in tax from Addis Ababa, in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The money collected is double that of the same period last year.

Revenue raised from municipal services increased the revenue from the capital city to 1.75 billion birr, making up 30% of the sum the tax authority plans to raise this fiscal year.

The Ethiopia tax authority raised an additional 16 billion from tax and non tax revenues on the federal level in the past quarter.

The Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency announced that Ethiopia has earned 55 million US dollars in horticultural exports in the first quarter of this fiscal year.  

The revenue was raised from the export of fruits and vegetables as well as flowers and other produce explained the press statement from the agency.

Awash Insurance has announced 18 million birr in revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The Ethiopian insurers paid out 69 million birr in claims which is 19 million birr more than the same period last year.

Awash Insurance was able to sale 203 million birr worth of insurance policies over the last year exhibiting a 46% increase from the previous year according to Kenea Daba, head of the Awash board.

Castel Winery is expected to bottle wine for export form its vineyard in Zeway early next year. The French company is the first foreign winery in Ethiopia after the socialist regime.

The French wine maker has installed 28, 430 hectolitre, Inox tankers for the production of its first bottles of wine according to Robel Seido, Sales and Marketing Manager at Castel.

The wines will be bottled over the next 3-6 months and will be available to the market shortly thereafter said Seido. The first wines to reach the market are expected to be white wine he added.

A Moroccan Company, S2M, has won the bid to form a joint electronic payment system for three Ethiopian banks. Awash International Bank, NIB International Bank and United Bank formed Premier Switch Solutions SC which will use S2M to integrate their ATM services.

Fourteen international firms took part in the bid according to Berhanu Getaneh President of United Bank.
S2M is expected to form a system that will enable ATM holders at the three banks to withdraw money at all ATM machines operated by members of the Premier Switch.

Ethiopian Airlines will become an official member of Star Alliance in a ceremony to be held next month. It is expected that CEOs of the 27 members of Star Airlines and other aviation dignitaries will attend the ceremony.

Ethiopian Airlines is trying to select a day that will enable all CEO’s to attend the ceremony according to Wegayehu Terefe Public Relations Manager of Ethiopian Airlines.

The Airlines aims to mark the event with a lavish ceremony as it is a significant milestone in its efforts to become a world class airline said Wegayehu.

The Ethiopian Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Enterprise and Merchandise Wholesale and Import Trade Enterprise have announced an upcoming merger. It is expected that a merger between the two enterprises will result in expanding their services.

The merger between the two state-owned enterprises will create a large retail corporation as per decisions that followed a visit to India by high level representatives of the Ethiopian government two months ago.

The Eastern African Fine Coffees Association announced plans to hold the 9th edition of the African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Ethiopia. The conference and exhibition will be held in Addis Ababa from the 16th to the 18th of February next year.

The event will provide an opportunity for international attendees to experience the many varieties of coffee available from Ethiopia and other fine coffee producing nation said Abduraham Sheik Ahmed Minster of Trade.

The National Bank of Ethiopia announced plans to offer gold to the local market in the next few weeks. The bank will sell the gold at current international prices and an additional 0.5% service charge.

Goldsmiths and jewelers will be required to purchase raw gold from the central bank according to a directive issued by the Ministry of Mines. This is expected to curb other sources of gold.