news

The United Kingdom has temporarily removed tariffs on cut flowers that it imports from East African countries. Starting April 11, 2024, unlimited quantities of cut flowers can be exported to the UK at a duty rate of zero percent regardless of whether they transit through a third country. This suspension of the eight percent tariff […]

Ethiopia’s deposit guarantee scheme has deployed the 2.8 billion birr collected from participating banks and microfinance institutions into short-term government securities. The Ethiopian Deposit Insurance Fund (EDIF) funnelled the underwriting cash it accumulated from premium contributions, which is believed to have been invested in Treasury bills. As Treasury bills are currently the only available short-term

In a major policy shift, the Ethiopian government has introduced reforms that will bring sweeping changes to long-standing investment rules, allowing foreign participation in key economic sectors, including export, import, wholesale, and retail trade. The introduction of overseas competition by permitting direct foreign involvement in these sectors marks the end of the period where they

Zemen Bank announced it will auction a residential property from WA Edible Oil Refinery, one of Ethiopia’s largest refineries. WA Edible Oil Refinery is owned by prominent investor Worku Aytenew. The three-story building in Addis Ababa’s Yeka Subcity spans 1,403 square meters. It will be auctioned on May 10, 2024 with a floor price of

The Ethiopian government has announced an ambitious set of policy reforms aimed at transforming regulations to better support the growth of startups in the country. At an event on April 4th dubbed “Startup Ethiopia,” federal authorities outlined wide-ranging changes across several ministries and agencies that will impact taxation, international payments, access to funding, intellectual property

The Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) has announced it exceeded its initial capital raising target by more than double. The ESX sought to raise ETB 631 million (11.07 million dollars) but ended up obtaining ETB 1.51 billion (26.6 million dollars), representing 240 percent of the original target. A total of 48 domestic and foreign institutional investors

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the conclusion of its two-week visit to Ethiopia without finalizing a support program for the country’s economic reforms. An IMF team led by Alvaro Piris held discussions in Addis Ababa but said more talks are needed to establish all the terms for how the IMF could back Ethiopia’s reform

The Ethiopian government has approved a new proclamation introducing tighter controls over housing rent increases across the country. The legislation passed today in parliament with a majority vote, with three abstentions. Only 244 MPs were present for the vote, meeting the minimum requirement but lower than normal attendance. Under the new law, landlords will have

Ethiopia’s ongoing fuel shortage continues to impact major cities, even as the head of the state petroleum enterprise pledges the crisis will soon end. A shortage of fuel has been felt in Addis Ababa and other towns since end of last week, caused by issues disrupting fuel imports from Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main entry point. Yasmaalem

The Cooperative Bank of Oromia (CBO) disclosed an investment of 60 million birr in the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX). This brings the total publicly announced commitments from Ethiopian banks to the ESX to 420 million birr. CBO becomes the sixth bank to publicly announce an investment, following Amhara Bank, Hibret Bank, Zemen Bank, Siinqee Bank,