Addis Fortune
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Against New Year Resolutions
By Christian Tesfaye ( Christian Tesfaye (christian.tesfaye@addisfortune.net) is a researcher and Fortune’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief whose interests run amok in the directions of political thought, markets, society and pop culture. )
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Washington Revokes Ethiopia Trade Privileges Effective Next Year
The US government has terminated Ethiopia’s involvement in the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), citing “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights.” Signed into US law in 2000, AGOA permitted the duty-free entry of African produced goods. Ethiopia has been privileged to export close to 6,500 items to the US market, with an annual…
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Wereda Officials Shut Mercato Commercial Building, Leaving Tenants in the Cold
City authorities have shut down a commercial centre in the country’s largest marketplace over allegations the share company that owns the building has not renewed its license. It is a decision that puts hundreds of tenants in the crossfire. Officials from the Wereda 8 Trade Bureau of the Addis Ketema District sealed the building off…
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Investing on Food Fortification can Save Millions, Study Reveals
Investing 3.8 million dollars in food fortification would help Ethiopia to save losses of over half a billion dollars spent on averting vitamin deficiencies, according to a new study by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Swiss-based foundation. The cost-benefit analysis report indicated that Ethiopia can upgrade its economy and bring health transformation if…
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IGAD Launches 4m Euro Project in Moyale
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has launched a four million euro project aimed at improving the wellbeing of households living along the Ethio-Kenyan border. The project, which is part of a series of initiatives being undertaken with financial support from the German government, also involves a pilot cash programme that will provide financial assistance…
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Ministry Plans to Issue 30m National IDs in Six Months
The Ministry of Peace announced its plans to register and issue national identification cards to 30 million citizens over the coming six months. Muferiat Kemil, minister of Peace, made the statement during a discussion with the executives of commercial banks, for whom the ID cards would play a vital role in bookkeeping and enforcing know…
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Community Lodges to be Constructed at Five Sites
Tourism Ethiopia plans to construct five lodges at remote tourist hotspots and popular attractions in a bid to boost visitor numbers. Dubbed ‘community lodges’, the first phase plans to undertake the construction in Senkile Wildlife Sanctuary, Choke Mountain, Afar Danakil Depression, Adaba Dodola and Chebera Churchura National Park, with funding from partners such as GIZ,…
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Week Sees Record COVID-19 Deaths
Last week saw 216 lives lost to COVID-19, the highest death toll since the pandemic took hold in March 2020. September 22, 2021, alone saw 47 deaths, equalling the previous peak recorded during the pandemic’s second wave in April this year. So far, over 5,300 people have succumbed to the virus. The spike in cases…
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Rammis Bank Receives Green Light
The country’s third full-fledged interest-free bank, Rammis, has been given the go ahead to proceed with establishment. Its first general assembly is to take place at the beginning of October 2021. Amid the rush to meet the central bank’s deadline to be established with a minimum paid-up capital of half a billion Br within six…
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Council of Ministers Approves Mining Concessions
The Council of Ministers approves concessions for seven mining companies, four of which are looking to get involved in gold. The Ministry of Mines & Petroleum proposed the companies be granted concessions following the completion of a feasibility study, prepared based on the companies’ capital and their potential contribution to the country’s economy. The companies,…
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Postal Services Enterprise Jumps Rental Fees by 600pc
The Ethiopian Postal Services Enterprise (EPSE) has increased annual box rental fees by as much as 600pc, the first adjustment in 11 years. A regular mailbox at the Enterprise’s head office on Churchill Avenue has jumped to 600 Br, from 85 Br in the annual fee. The larger mailbox fee of 170 Br has increased…
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IMF Credit Facility Expires as Debt Rework Faces Delay
Ethiopia’s access to a 1.5 billion dollar concessional loan facility availed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to expire this month following the inability of Ethiopian authorities to complete the country’s debt rework negotiations. It is akin to the recent move by the Export-Import Bank of China, which withheld 339 million dollars in…
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Commercial Banks to Secure $500m from Afreximbank
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is to avail half a billion dollars to 18 commercial banks in Ethiopia through its Afreximbank Trade Facilitation (AfTRAF) programme. The programme aims to increase and diversify trade in Africa as well boost confidence among trade partners. The Bank had previously been working with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)…
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CBE Teams Up with Local Real Estate Firm
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Gojo Bridge Housing to provide mortgage financing for the real estate company’s housing project. The Bank announced the commencement of registration for prospective homeowners who had reached an agreement with the company during the signing ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency last week.…
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IMF Foresees Over 90m Falling into Extreme Poverty Worldwide due to COVID-19
The global pandemic is set to cause a disturbing slide to extreme poverty and inequality, leading over 90 million people across the world fall below 1.90 dollars daily income, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned. The IMF released its flagship annual report, the World Economic Outlook, where it sees growth recovery from COVID-19 impact as…
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`Humanitarian Aid Need High, While Funding at Decade Low
Ethiopia has an increasingly high need for humanitarian assistance, estimated at more than 1.4 billion dollars, due to the compounded issues of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, locust invasions, conflict and floods, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Released on October 6, 2020, the report…
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Locust Invasion in Ethiopia: Since June, Pests Threaten Farm Livelihoods in North, East
Saturday was not a good day for Chekol Mestet, 50, a farmer and father of five in Girara Kebele of Amhara Regional State. Early in the morning, he found the hectare of land he ploughs three times a year was infested by Schistocercagregaria, a species of grasshopper better known as the desert locust. Chekol, who…
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Live Updates: ET 302 Flight …
What transpired in the few minutes after it took off can be recovered from the audio recorded in the black box found this morning. The black box from the flight of ET 302, which crashed yesterday morning, has been recovered from the accident site in an area called Ejere between the towns of Bishoftu (Debre…
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Legesse Asfaw, Cohort of Complicated, Painful History
Legesse Asfaw was not the type of man to worry friends and family with his personal problems. At least, as long as he hoped he could get past them. After experiencing pain last year, he began going to Korea Hospital, in the Gerji area of Addis Abeba, where he found out that he had liver…
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Girma: President, Environmentalist, Dance Lover
The late Girma WoldeGiorgis might have been Ethiopia’s longest-serving president, with a political and military career that spanned almost eight decades. He was down to earth, loved nature and had a soft spot for music and dancing. Most uniquely, he cared very little for goats and Eucalyptus trees. Girma wanted to see a greener Ethiopia,…
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Bitcoin Brings Economic Freedom
The feature story headlined, “Despite Murky Picture, Bitcoin Hatches” [Vol 19, No 966, November 4, 2018]. The goal of the replay is to indicate that Bitcoin is paving the global commercial way of the future and that the local Bitclub-Network is a vehicle. Bitcoin, as termed by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is a combination of…
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From Ethiopian to Ethiopia: Gender Equality Takes Prominence
I had written to this publication, headlined “Ethiopian’s Conspicuous Flaw” [Vol 18, No. 933, March 17, 2018], highlighting that Ethiopian Airlines has put in place a policy to empower women and include women in different executive positions instead of just all-women-crew flights on March 8. I gave an example on initiatives such as “Women in…
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Entoto is Not Barara
Dear Editor, Recent social media buzz claiming that the various ruins in and around Entoto are evidence of Barara is demonstrably false, contrary to true archaeological practice, and remain unfounded and disingenuous. I have visited these sites on various occasions and can categorically state none of them fit the necessary criteria for being a legitimate…
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No Effort Should be Spared towards Creating a Better Ethiopia
Dear Editor, The editorial, “No Happily Ever After without Political Settlement” [Vol 19, No.960, September 23, 2018], had a statement I very much agreed with. “The country is without an informed public, progressive civic societies, centrist parties with a broad base and institutionalised power,” it read. This has been a fact of life throughout the…
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Economic Paradox: Born Out of Monetary Expansion
Dear Editor, Public infrastructure and foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly in the services and industry sectors, boost production, albeit with a relatively long and short lag period, respectively. The expected boost in the production of consumer goods drives invigorated consumption, both for domestically produced and imported products. An Op-Ed piece by Eyob Tesfaye (PhD) headlined…
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