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The Ethiopian Horticulture Development Agency is testing the draft directive, changing the unit of measurement of exported flowers to weight from stem count, on selected exporters. The testing will be conducted for two weeks as of the 11th of November before the draft directive is passed.

The test aims to identify problem areas in implementing the new directive, explains a letter sent to the seven exporter selected for testing from Desalegn Assefa Director of the Marketing, Research, Study, & Quality Follow-up Directorate.

The Documents Authentication and Registration Office said that it would introduce online attorney registration for clients through its official website as of this week. The scheme is scheduled to be launched tomorrow.

Until now clients had to visit the notary office for the authentication of legal documents. It is expected that the new registration management system will do away with the necessity of such visits except for notarisation.

The office is installing the online registration system in all of its branches.

Ethiopian drivers will soon have to pay an annual vehicle license fee towards maintaining the condition of the roads according to the Ethiopian Road Fund Office. It is expected that drivers will be charged 165 birr for a car when they renew their licenses.

Trucks will be charged more and additional fines will be exacted from trucks and buses that exceed weight limits or drive over long distances. The annual fee will be in addition to existing fuel taxes and vehicle charges from municipalities.

The earnings that Ethiopia expects to receive from the export of spices, pulses and oilseeds are projected to increase by a third to an estimated 900 million US dollars in the current fiscal year.

The increase in revenue is related to incentives offered to investors in the sector including land for processing and warehousing and the waiving of duties related to import and export said Haile Berhe President of the Ethiopian Pulses, Oil Seeds and Spices Processors-Exporters Association.

The association is confident that the incentives will enable exporters to export as much as is made available he added.

It may Exceed 10 Percent - Deputy Prime Minister

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Ethiopian economic growth may exceed 10 percent contrary to the International Monetary Fund's prediction on May 31 that it would fall from 7.5 percent this year to 6 percent in the 2011/2012 fiscal year, Hailemariam Desalegn, deputy prime minister of Ethiopia, said yesterday. IMF had said that the country's monetary policy was pushing up inflation which, combined with restrictions on bank lending, would in turn bring about a slower economic growth.

Hailemariam said that expansion would not drop below 9 percent in the fiscal year to 7 July 2012, from 11.4 percent this year. The economy has expanded an average of 11 percent over the past seven years according to IMF data.

According to the deputy prime minister, this year's sharp increase in inflation is the result of global food and fuel price hike and not loose monetary policy. He said that the price of oil had risen due to the current unrest in the Middle East and when that problem is solved, the price would go down. Therefore, he said, the problem Ethiopia is facing is only temporary.

The inflation rate jumped to 29.5 percent in April from 25 percent a month earlier as food prices increased, the Central Statistical Agency said on May 10. And according to IMF, broad money-supply growth was 35 percent at the end of March, which had previously projected growth of 22 percent in money supply this fiscal year.

Source: Bloomberg.com