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The International Monetary Fund is to push Ethiopia to increase bank rates to counter real interest rates which are deeply in the negative due to the inflation rates.

Real interest rates are negative noted Jan Mikkelsen, Ethiopian Resident Representative of the IMF. The IMF mission making a visit to Ethiopia on the 4th of June will counsel the government to increase interest rates as a monetary policy option to sustain the growth registered over the last years he said.

Ethiopia's economy is projected to grow 7.5 percent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday at a press briefing on Regional Economic Outlook of sub-Saharan Africa 2013 and macroeconomic developments and policies in Ethiopia.

IMF Resident Representative Jan Mikkelsen said that in recent years, economic growth in Ethiopia has been robust.

Impact International Real Estates, Ethiopia delivered its first group of 50 houses, built on near Lake Tana in Amhara Regional State.

The 50 homes delivered to clients are the first of the 120 home housing project launched by the real estate company in 2006. The company intends to build 400 houses altogether.

The cost of the project is estimated at 450 million birr with construction to be conducted on a 150 thousand meter square plot of land. The design of the project also includes the construction of constructing health facilities, schools, and various entertainment facilities with bungalows, a supermarket and other services. 

The Ethiopian Home and Office Décor Expo, 2011 was dominated by imported goods it was said. The Expo was organized at the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center by the HPP Exhibition Company, Netherlands.

Various furniture companies took part in the exhibition, while products on show were said to be imports from East Asia.

Customers opt for imports because they can’t find what they want locally produced said Meron Hailu General Manager of Dream Furniture. Dream furniture imports furniture from Malaysia where good leather and bamboo products are to be found according to Meron.

An increasing number of people in Ethiopia purchase counterfeit software unintentionally according to the Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft loses an approximate 240 million birr to software piracy annually in Ethiopia.

Piracy adversely affects economic growth in Ethiopia as illegal software cannot create jobs for students, IT professionals or developers according to Eric Odipo, Channel Lead, Microsoft East and Southern Africa.