The great successful men of the world have used their imagination… they think ahead and create their mental picture in all it details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.
Robert Collier (1885-1950)
American writter, famous for his self help books and new thoughts of meta physics
Teklewold Atnafu, governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, was referring to the pressure that the governmental financial institution, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), has been put under due to the new housing development project financing it was mandated to accomplish by the government, at the First National Business Conference which was held at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on June 27, 2013. Teklewold, in his response to a question about the possibility of the crowding out effect that the mandate that was given solely to CBE to handle the financial end of the new public housing scheme will have on private banks, also said that the investment is too huge to be handled by private banks (more than ETB 60 billion), and he didn’t think that it would be profitable for private banks to provide mortgage loans of 90 pct, that will mature after twenty years for a mere 7.5 interest rate, half the industry average. He also said no complaint had been forwarded from the private banks on the issue. Also present at the Forum was Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn along with ministers and Mulu Solomon, president of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (ECCSA).
Ethiopian Airlines launched its first flight to South America on July 1, 2013. The flight from Addis Ababa to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 74th and 75th destinations of the airline, via Lome’, Togo, will increase its flight route network to five continents.
Tewolde Gebremariam CEO of Ethiopian, during the launch, said, “the route will be the only direct [flight] service between West Africa and Brazil and with ASKY, our partner, the airline will connect 22 West African cities with South America.”
The International Labor Organization (ILO) commemorated “World Day Against Child Labor” on June 12, 2013, releasing a new report about the alarming situation many vulnerable children face. The organization urged concerted and joint action at national and international levels to eliminate child domestic labour.
Locally, the day was also observed in Wolayita Sodo in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPR), where many conditions are ripe for children to be exploited through forced labor and trafficking.
The registration process for the new government housing projects has gotten people talking. Starting May 3, 2013 all 115 branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) in Addis Abeba were busy with swarms of people hoping to take advantage of the new program. Despite its multi-faceted benefits, not everyone seems to be happy though. Private banks may face further depleted savings as the masses rush to open an account in the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE); the public financial institution mandated with handling the financial aspect of the project. The 40/60 program that targets the middle class is set to challenge private real estate companies as well.
A new study by the social marketing organization DKT Ethiopia finds that Emergency Contraceptive consumption is on the rise. Commonly known as Post Pills, they are taken in the immediate hours after having unprotected sexual intercourse to prevent unplanned pregnancy. The study indicates that over a five year period between 2007 and 2012 their use increased by 382 Pct. In 2007, there were only 12,432 pills in circulation but this number grew to a record high of 1.58 million in 2012, according to the DKT study. The country spent more than USD29 million to import the pills in 2012 alone.
Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (ECCSA) presented a position paper- Regulation and Openness of Ethiopia’s Service Sectors with an objective of fostering discussion about the private sector’s opinions on Ethiopia’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession process.
The event, at Hilton Hotel on June 28, 2013, was organized by ECCSA and International Trade Center (ITC). It brought together private businesspeople, officials from ECCSA, including Mulu Solomon, ECCSA’s president and Malcolm Mckinnon, chief executive of ITC and an international negotiator of WTO, who has a decade of experience in the field.
The number of people currently under detention by court order since the Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission began arresting senior government officials and private sector tycoons on May 10, 2013. The number had been 61 until two detainees were released on bail in the last week of June. Among these detainees is Melaku Fanta, former director general of the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority, whose office has been taken over by Beker Shalle, the former mayor of Adama town.
As June ends and the 2012/13 budget year comes to a close, government offices at the federal and regional levels have been on the rush to reconcile their accounting for this fiscal year and defend their proposals for the next. The 2013/ 14 budget year, from July 1, 2013- June 30, 2014, is set to see a federal budget close to ETB155 billion.
In the Government’s new spending plan, the recurrent budget amounts to around ETB32 billion. The nation’s capital expenditure is proposed to be ETB64 and a half billion while the costs for the Millennium Development Goals will be covered with ETB15 billion. The balance, ETB43 and a half billion is set to be forwarded to regions as unconditional budget grants.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Ethiopian Business Review