2merkato

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) accepted offers last week from three European companies which responded to the bank’s desire to print 50 birr and 100 birr notes.

The bank wants to order the printing of notes with a total value of 52 billion birr to replace all-in notes under circulation. It will be the largest order ever, more than 90 percent of what it had printed last year.

Sugar Corp., a state-owned sugar producer, said that it was building ten new factories and was inviting private investment as part of a plan to become one of the world's 10 biggest exporters of the crop.

The project involves constructing plants and establishing farms at a cost of about 4.6 billion dollars in four regions of the country, Abay Tsehaye, director general of the company, said last week.

Abay said that Ethiopia hopes to become one of the top 10 exporters of sugar in the coming 15 years.

Ethiopia announced that it would build two more dams along its share of the Nile, six months after launching the construction of a 5,250 megawatt power plant on the river.

Ethiopia aims to produce 20,000 megawatts of power within the next ten years, part of a plan to spend 12 billion dollars over 25 years to raise power generating capability.

According to Reuters, officials estimate that the country has the potential to produce about 45,000 megawatt of electricity.

Income from the export of Ethiopia’s staple food, the injera bread, rose to 350,000 dollars to 400,000 dollars a month.

Five years ago the monthly revenue from injera was 10,000 dollars, according to the Ministry of Industry. The ministry expects that the revenue from the export of injera around the world will rise to five million dollars during the current fiscal year.

The United States is the major importer of injera followed by Europe and the Middle East.

Car sales slowed down in Ethiopia over the last week causing major importers of used cars to marginally cut prices.

Importers say that the latest trade and tax regulations are to blame for the slowdown. Industry observers on the other hand say that the increase in production and number of importers during the last few years have contributed to the slowdown.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) signed yesterday power transmission project contracts worth around 330 million dollars with companies from ten countries.

Indian companies take the biggest share of the contract winning three contracts worth more than 50 million dollars. 

Among the companies which entered into agreements with EEPCo are Energoinvest DD of Bosnia & Herzegovina, ALISTOM GRID of France, ABB AG of Germany, AECOM of USA-Canada and Norinco International Limited of China.

The projects are expected to be completed within 12 to 24 months.

Allana Potash Corp., which has started feasibility study on its potash property in Ethiopia, announced yesterday that its common shares would start trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange at market open today.

Allana said that its stock symbol would remain "AAA".

Farhad Abasov, Allana's President and CEO, said that trading on the Toronto Stock Excange would enhance the company's already strong trading liquidity and attract a broader investor base to Allana.

Coffee exports from Ethiopia rose by 38 percent in the fiscal year to 7 July 2011 as shipments of the beans jumped, the Ministry of Trade said.

In a statement released yesterday the ministry said that the total amount of coffee exported over the period reached 2.8 billion dollars.

Coffee was Ethiopia's biggest source of revenue raising 841.7 million dollars from 196,118 tonnes of beans shipped.

The Ethiopian Airlines is going to launch an Addis Ababa-Seychelles flight. The airlines will be operating one flight every week on Sundays, landing in Seychelles at 3:00 pm and departing in an hour.

Ethiopian has filed for slots to fly to the islands of Seychelles during the winter 2011-2012 schedule, which is the period starting 30 October 2011 to 24 March 2012.

The Ethiopia Airlines is one of Africa’s leading carriers, whose efficiency and operational success are not rivalled in the continent.

Abay Bank, one of the private banks in Ethiopia, is going to float shares worth 200 million birr to the public as of this month.

The bank is generating the outstanding amount of 174 million birr of initial start up capital by selling shares which have been floated for the last two years.

According to Mesenbet Shenkut, president of Abay Bank, the authorized amount of capital will be fulfilled in the coming week.

The bank’s growth of capital from 300 million birr to half a billion birr was approved by shareholders at the general assembly in March.