The French telecommunications giant Orange is considering a bid for a minority stake in the Ethiopian telecom market, Bloomberg reported, since Ethiopia is inviting bidders in a move to liberalize the state-hold monopoly of the telecom industry for the over-110-million-people market.
The Parliament of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia approved a budget of 23.29 billion birr for the 2012-13 financial year. The budget shows an increase of 25% from the budget allocated by the regional government in the last budget year.
The budget tabled by the executive branch of the state government to the legislative body was a new high for the region.
The budget was planned on the basis of expanding development projects in the region said Abdulaziz Mohammed, Vice President of the state.
The Oromia Credit and Saving Enterprise announced that it has disbursed over 306 million Ethiopian birr in loan to beneficiaries during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
The Enterprise told Ethiopian News Agency that it has distributed the loan to 96,000 beneficiaries through its 294 branch offices.
Oromia Insurance Company (OIC) S.C., one of Ethiopia’s private insurance companies has paid a claim of 525,000 Birr for 300 farmers in Oromia Regional State for crop failure, Addis Fortune reported.
Oromia Insurance Company registered 11.7 million birr in net profit in the last financial year. The insurer recorded a 447% 
increase from the 2.1 million birr it had earned in the previous financial year.
The profits earned during the last fiscal year were a new record for the insurance company just three years old. The increased revenue earned by the company is due to an enhanced system of risk selection and a decrease in credit balances due to an extensively implemented collection strategy according to the annual report presented by the company.
The increase in the revenue of the company was also supported by an effectively applied cost saving and control mechanism, Investment of temporary idle cash in fixed-time deposits, and small dividends generated from equity investment noted the OIC.
