2merkato

The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) approved last Tuesday a 1.52 billion birr loan to Habesha Cement.

The company had sought from the bank 70 percent of the fund it need for setting up a cement factory in the country.

The bank is currently drafting the loan agreement and it is expected that the parties will sign the deal next week.

The annual production capacity of Habesha’s first factory is projected to be 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year, according to Mesfin Abi, CEO of the company.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) introduced to banks on September 19, 2011a Swift Cheque Value Transfer, an interbank payment system, to ensure prompt exchange and transfer of cheques above 200, 000 birr.

The SWIFT cheque value transfer allows for the head offices of banks to use Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) in settling high value cheques within six hours.

“This is a good move on the part of NBE,” Anteneh Assefah, vice president of Abyssinia Bank, said. 

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.

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.

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.