EBR_News May 31, 2026

Three of Ethiopia’s largest licensed payment gateway operators, Chapa Financial Technologies, ArifPay Financial Technologies, and SantimPay Financial Solutions, have jointly written to the Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, Eyob Tekalign (PhD), urgently requesting intervention over enforcement actions taken by the Ministry of Revenue against their companies.

A copy of the letter, dated 29 May 2026, was exclusively accessed by Ethiopian Business Review. It is copied to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Revenue, and describes the enforcement as procedurally premature and in violation of Ethiopian law.

EBR_News May 4, 2026

Betegbar Yaregal

Ethiopia is preparing to inaugurate new ceramic manufacturing plants expected to fully meet domestic demand and reduce reliance on imported construction materials, in a move aimed at easing logistics constraints and supporting industrial growth.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the development during the opening of the Ethiopia Tamirt Expo in Addis Ababa, indicating that at least two ceramic factories will begin operations in the near term.

Abiy stated that the country has long relied on imported stone and ceramic products, which, combined with underdeveloped logistics, slowed down construction projects. “For years, Ethiopia has been importing stones. With that situation and poor logistics, it was impossible to accelerate construction as needed,” he said.

EBR_News Apr 27, 2026

Betegbar Yaregal

A new draft insurance proclamation circulating among stakeholders proposes the most significant overhaul of Ethiopia’s insurance sector in over a decade, including the introduction of foreign ownership, an independent regulator, and a regulatory sandbox for innovative products, according to a copy of the draft insurance proclamation reviewed by Ethiopian Business Review.

The draft, which would repeal the 2012 Insurance Business Proclamation and its 2019 amendment, remains in the consultation phase and has not yet been enacted into law.

The draft proposes for the first time to allow foreign insurers to enter the Ethiopian market by establishing partially or fully owned subsidiaries, acquiring shares in existing insurers, or opening representative offices. Under the draft, strategic investors would be capped at 40 percent direct shareholding, while non-strategic foreign individuals would be limited to 7 percent and foreign juridical persons to 10 percent. The aggregate shareholding by foreign nationals would not exceed 49 percent of an insurer’s total subscribed shares.

EBR_News Apr 20, 2026

Betegbar Yaregal

Russia has more than doubled its wheat exports to Sudan and solidified its position as Africa’s dominant grain supplier, capturing a record 40 percent of the continent’s wheat import market, according to Russia’s agriculture export agency Agroexport. The development coincides with Ukraine’s strategic pivot to Africa, opening its first agricultural hub in Ghana and intensifying competition for a continent where Ethiopia remains heavily dependent on Black Sea imports.

Russian wheat shipments to Sudan surged to 1.7 million tons since the start of the 2025/26 season, up from 0.7 million tons a year earlier, driven by the restart of several Sudanese mills and a broader push into African markets. Agroexport reported that Egypt alone accounted for a record 21 percent of Russia’s wheat exports in the 2024/25 season, exceeding 9.4 million tons.

EBR_News Apr 17, 2026

Chinese company Aladdin Holdings Group has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Ethiopian embassy in Beijing to establish a China-East Africa Modern Agriculture and Cultural Tourism Industry Innovation Center, marking a new phase in bilateral economic cooperation, according to a report by China Daily.

The proposed project aims to combine renewable energy, modern farming, equipment manufacturing, and cultural tourism into an integrated industrial-agricultural cluster. Under the MoU, the two sides will focus on developing solar power, industrial energy storage, cold-chain logistics, and agricultural robotics, with the goal of creating a scalable model for replication across Ethiopia, East Africa, and the wider continent.

EBR_News Apr 17, 2026

Betegbar Yaregal

Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria are set to lose between $240 million and $780 million each in official development assistance after African bilateral aid budgets contracted by 16 to 28 percent in 2025, a reduction of $4 to $7 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund’s April 2026 Regional Economic Outlook.

The report, released during the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, reveals that the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), substantial cuts to US development budgets announced in January 2025, and funding reductions from other major donors including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have triggered an aid shock unlike any seen before.

Unlike past episodes where aid declines were often country-specific or cyclical, this contraction is “donor-driven, simultaneous across countries, and unfolding with minimal warning,” the IMF states.

Initial estimates indicate that humanitarian aid flows to sub-Saharan Africa dropped by 42 percent in 2025 compared to 2024 levels, according to UNOCHA data cited in the report. Chad, Africa’s largest host country for refugees per capita, could see its aid receipts halved in the coming year, severely crippling life-saving assistance for both refugee camps and its own population.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that less than half of the people in need of humanitarian assistance can be reached with available resources in 2026. An estimated three million children in sub-Saharan Africa may be pushed out of school, and 75 million children globally may miss routine vaccinations over the next five years, the report warns.

The 2025 bilateral cuts are likely only the first wave, the IMF cautions. Most bilateral donors plan aid on multiyear cycles, meaning further reductions will occur when new programming periods begin. Multilateral agencies, traditionally shock absorbers for the region, face their own steep budget cuts following decreased contributions from bilateral donors. The World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization project 34 percent, 27 percent, and 39 percent less funding in the coming years than in 2023-24, respectively.

Aid cuts reinforce the criticality of domestic revenue mobilization in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio in the world, with the median country collecting 13.8 percent of GDP. Improved tax administration and policy reforms can raise this figure, but doing so requires strengthening technical capacity and building public support and trust.

The countries most affected by the cuts tend to be those already facing multiple sources of vulnerability, including conflict, insurgency, high poverty rates, and political instability.

The report notes that low-income countries and fragile states, where aid previously financed health, education, and humanitarian programs, will bear the heaviest burden.