2merkato

Finance Minister Ahmed Shide and World Bank’s Director for Regional Integration for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa Boutheina Guermazi inked a grant agreement which extended a USD 405 million grant to Ethiopia.

From the total fund granted by the World Bank, USD 195 million would be allotted to control the impact of COVID-19 and USD 210 million would be allocated to support the Ethiopia Ground Water for Resilience Project, it was learned.

Ethiopia is seeking an additional loan of 300 million US dollars in financing for the last stretch of the Awash-Woldiya-Mekele Railway Project, from the government of India.

The new loan will be in addition to the original 300 million US dollars promised by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Discussions to negotiate the conditions of the loan arrangement are underway between the governments of the two countries according to Genet Zewdie, Ethiopian Ambassador to India.

Contracts for the construction of two out of the three sections included in the railway construction project have been awarded to Turkish and Chinese companies.  The  China Communications Construction Company is in charge of building the Mekele-Woldiya section while the Turkish company Yapi Merkezi Construction was awarded the Awash to Woldiya section of the Tadjourah railway.

Even if the Ethiopia’s banking industry is close to foreign banks, it is now seeking the Indian banking system, State Bank of India, to engage in it’s economy and open a representative office.

Ethiopia is looking for Indian, Ukrainian and Turkish companies to supply steel billets to reduce manufacturing costs of the domestic steel sector.

The import of the billets will be facilitated by the Ethiopian Metal Industries Development Institute. The plan for the government import of the billet for the steel sector was generated within the industry said Workeneh Delelegn, Director General of the EMIDI.

The program is expected to benefit the seven Reinforcement Bar manufacturing industries currently in operation in the country.

Ethiopia’s Petroleum Enterprise is seeking a supplier for anthracite coal to power furnaces for smaller cement factories with vertical kilns. The factories are allegedly unable to utilize the steam coal being imported from South Africa as it could undermine the quality of their product.

Six smaller cement factories in Ethiopia, Abyssinia Cement, CH Clinker, Debresina Cement, Enchini Medrock Cement, Hungh Shun Cement, and Jemma Cement lodged complaints with the Ministry of Trade claiming that they would not be able to use the steam coal being imported for use by cement factories in Ethiopia.