EBR_News Mar 12, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

Bank of Abyssinia and Visa have signed a new agreement to strengthen their long-standing partnership and accelerate the growth of digital payment solutions across Ethiopia, according to an announcement made at the bank’s head office in Addis Ababa.

The agreement will support the continued expansion of Visa products issued by Bank of Abyssinia while enabling the bank to enhance customer experiences through advanced digital payment capabilities.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Yared Endale, Cluster Head for Eastern Africa at Visa, said the agreement marks an important milestone in the companies’ five-year relationship. “Ethiopia is an important and rapidly evolving market, and Visa remains committed to working closely with leading financial institutions to support the growth of the digital payments ecosystem.

EBR_News Mar 13, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

Awash Bank has unveiled three new digital applications today at Skylight Hotel, significantly expanding its digital service portfolio with a strategic focus on capturing Ethiopia’s estimated $7.1 billion annual remittance market through a new partnership with MasterCard.

CEO Tsehay Shiferaw, addressing the launch event, stated that updating services and developing convenient platforms remains the bank’s constant mission. “In the future, we will continue to provide our bank’s customers, whose number and demand are constantly increasing, with modern digital services in addition to regular banking services,” he said.

The flagship launch, Awash Remit, is a mobile money transfer platform designed specifically for Ethiopians living abroad and foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin. The app enables fast and secure transfers to friends and family, allowing senders to deposit funds directly into Awash Bank accounts, Awash Birr Pro Wallets, or enable recipients to withdraw cash from branches using Visa or MasterCard.

EBR_News Mar 12, 2026

Ethiopia’s legal cigarette market has contracted by an estimated 67 percent between 2019 and 2025, while illicit volumes more than doubled following aggressive excise tax increases, according to a new study commissioned by the National Tobacco Enterprise (NTE) and conducted by Oxford Economics Africa.

The report, titled “Cigarette Market Dynamics in Ethiopia After Changes in Excise Policy and Rates,” analyzed market developments from 2019 through October 2025, covering two major policy shifts: the introduction of a mixed excise regime in early 2020 and a subsequent increase in the fixed rate component in June 2024.

Prior to 2020, Ethiopia levied a 75 percent ad valorem excise tax based on production costs. The new regime implemented in Q1 2020 introduced a mixed system comprising a 30 percent ad valorem rate based on factory gate prices plus a fixed charge of 8 birr per pack of 20 sticks. This pushed the average excise per pack up by more than 200 percent, according to the study.

EBR_News Mar 11, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

Ethiopian Cargo will join the Freightos cargo booking platform at the end of this month, integrating digital rates, quoting, and ebooking capabilities across Africa’s largest air cargo network, according to an announcement made at Mobile World Congress Barcelona.

The integration includes WebCargo Pay for fast digital payments and interlining capabilities, enabling freight forwarders to search, quote, and book airline capacity in seconds rather than hours, the company stated. Ethiopian Cargo operates Africa’s largest air cargo network, serving more than 145 destinations worldwide through dedicated freighters and passenger belly capacity, offering high-speed and priority shipment options.

Pablo Pinillos, CFO and Interim CEO of Freightos, noted that global trade has become far more volatile, and access to speed and reliability matters more than big promises. “With Ethiopian Cargo on our platform, forwarders will be able to unlock practical tools to move freight when capacity, routes, and costs are constantly shifting, resulting in less friction, more optionality, and fewer spreadsheets,” he said.

EBR_News Mar 11, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

Ethiopia generated $1.35 billion from coffee exports in the first six months of the current fiscal year, shipping 200,000 tons to international markets, though the volume fell short of the target as some exporters withheld stock anticipating further price increases, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Communications Director Yimer Dawud told a press briefing today that coffee remains Ethiopia’s largest export commodity, contributing 50 to 65 percent of agricultural export earnings and over 25 to 30 percent of total export revenues. The country ranks fourth globally in coffee exports and third in Arabica production, behind Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia.

The government has set an ambitious target of exporting 600,000 tons and earning $3 billion by the end of the fiscal year. However, only 74 percent of the volume target was achieved in the first half, despite exceeding revenue projections. Yimer attributed the shortfall to “the wrong assumption that the production stock and the dollar exchange rate would increase,” leading some exporters to hoard coffee in anticipation of better prices.

EBR_News Mar 11, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

The African Development Bank has launched the Integrated Aviation Transformation Program (IATP), a continent-wide initiative featuring a $7 billion financing facility and a separate “Pooled Regional Sukuk Platform” to mobilize Islamic finance for airport infrastructure, with Ethiopia among the pilot countries where the program will be implemented.

The program was unveiled during the Airlines, Capital and Connectivity Forum in Nairobi on February 25-26, co-hosted by the AfDB and the African Airlines Association. It is structured around three pillars: policy and safety modernization; airline and fleet renewal supported by a pan-African financing platform; and infrastructure development through innovative financing mechanisms including the Sukuk platform targeting airport infrastructure, cargo hubs, and air navigation systems.

EBR_News Mar 11, 2026

By Betegbar Yaregal

Ethiopia has emerged as a leading force in Africa’s hotel construction boom, with nearly 80 percent of its pipeline rooms currently under construction the highest ratio on the continent as the country races to expand accommodation capacity ahead of hosting the COP32 climate conference in 2027, according to the 2026 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa report by W Hospitality Group.

The report reveals that Africa’s hotel development pipeline has reached a record 123,846 rooms across 675 hotels, growing 18.6 percent year-on-year. Ethiopia ranks fifth on the continent with 5,964 rooms across 34 hotels in the pipeline, behind Egypt (45,984), Morocco (10,606), Nigeria (8,480), and Kenya (6,190).

What sets Ethiopia apart, however, is execution momentum. The country has 79.9 percent of its pipeline rooms under construction the highest in Africa alongside Kenya at 79.5 percent, and well ahead of Tanzania (77.5 percent), South Africa (67.2 percent), and Nigeria (39.2 percent). Trevor Ward, Managing Director of W Hospitality Group, noted that “what stands out this year is the strength of East Africa in terms of projects moving forward.