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RINGING IN REFORM


A historic chapter in the domestic financial sector evolution was scripted last week as senior federal government officials convened to formally inaugurate the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX). Governor Mamo Mehiretu and Finance Minister Ahmed Shi...

Jul 13 , 2025


Fortune News

Revenues Bureau Targets Landlords in Revenue Push

The Addis Abeba City Revenue Bureau has introduced a new directive set to reshape how half a million property owners report and pay taxes. In a sweeping overhaul of its rental taxation regime, and...

Jul 13 , 2025

Money Market Watch

The Brewed Buck on the Boil as Banks Push Dollar Higher, Central Bank Holds Back

The Birr (the Brewed Buck) continued its slow retreat in the retail forex market last week, losing ground in quiet increments as commercial banks edged their dollar quotations higher. The panel averag...

Jul 13 , 2025

News Analysis

Siinqee Bank Accelerates Growth, Struggles to Convert Scale into Profit

Siinqee Bank has burst confidently from microfinance trenches into the competitive commercial banking industry, posting an impressive profit surge that outshone many peers. Its net profit jumped by 8...

May 11 , 2025


Latest Updates

Addis Ababa Goes It Alone with Record Budget

Addis Abeba has approved a record 350 billion Br budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year, the first in th...

Jul 13 , 2025


VAT Relief Sprouts in Addis, But Roots of Inequality Run Deep

The Addis Abeba Revenue Bureau has scrapped a value-added tax (VAT) on unprocessed vegetables such a...

Jul 13 , 2025


Parliament Draws Dividend Dispute to a Close

Federal lawmakers have finally brought closure to a protracted and contentious tax debate that has h...

Jul 13 , 2025








Agenda

Brewing Trouble as Tella Bars Go Dry

The sweet-sour scent of "tella" still lingered in the cramped compound off Tunisia Street, close to Addisu Gebeya, even though the drink itself is gone. Days ago, 200Lts of the home-brewed beer were poured away, another casualty of a quiet but determ...

Jul 13 , 2025


When Pepper Burns the Purse

The late-morning sun cuts through Addis Abeba's usual haze and lands on Haile Garment, an industrious pocket of the capital's Nifas Silk-Lafto District where se...

Jul 6 , 2025


As School Fees Soar in Addis, Families Choose Between Education, Survival

Late June in Addis Abeba brings its first curtain of rain, a grey veil that slows the minibuses and muffles the usual din of the capital. It is the season when...

Jun 29 , 2025







Editorial

Legal, Policy Volatility Turns Promises into Headwinds

Political leaders and their policy advisors often promise great leaps forward, yet they frequently fall short, landing with a thud. In July 2024, Mamo Mehiretu, governor of the Central Bank, declared that the five-decade-old straitjacket on the fo...

Jul 12 , 2025


Civil Society Feels the Squeeze as Reform Era Unravels

Six years ago, Ethiopia was the darling of international liberal commentators. A year earlier, crowds filled Mesqel Square, chanting slogans celebrating the dawning of an era away from what was an authoritarian state and towards political openness and market-f...

Jul 5 , 2025

Soaring Taxes Fail to Plug Holes as Audit Reveals Enduring Waste

Meseret Damtie, the assertive auditor general, has never been shy about naming names, and with a reputation for her clear voice and sharper pencil. Last week, she published her latest verdict on the federal government's finances, covering 115 of the 182 instit...

Jun 28 , 2025







Exclusive Interview

Germany Champions Reforms While Industrial Model Faces Global Stress Test

Jens Hanefeld, Germany's envoy in Addis Abeba, touched down last September with a resume that mixes three decades of diplomacy, a decade running Volkswagen's global lobbying shop and the trained eye of a historian. Serving as ambassador to Ethiopia and Berlin's permanent representative to the Africa...

May 17 , 2025


Legacy Businesses in a Liminal Era

At first light in Addis Abeba's Qality District, the smell of freshly roasted Yirgacheffe beans drifts into the yeasty haze from Shoa Bakery's ovens, a blend that sums up Ethiopia's family firms. Such outfits are scarce everywhere, yet in Ethiopia, roughly 40p...

Apr 19 , 2025

The Roast of Resilience Brews in Bloodline

When her father died suddenly in 2008, Heleanna Georgalis found herself at the helm of Moplaco Trading Plc, a venerable coffee company founded in 1897 during Emperor Menelik's reign. Thrust into leadership amid profound grief, she had to steer the uncharted...

Apr 19 , 2025







Viewpoint

The Brewed Buck Floats. Can the Economy Stay Afloat?

For two decades, policymakers relied on a playbook that mixed state-funded construction booms, cheap bank credit, and a tightly managed exchange rate. Holding the Birr (Brewed Buck) artificially high kept imported fuel and food affordable, giving the appearance of price stability. Nonetheless, beneath the surface, trade gaps widened, with goods imports exceeding exports by roughly three to one...

Jul 13 , 2025


The Brewed Buck Floats. Can the Economy Stay Afloat?

For two decades, policymakers relied on a playbook that mixed state-funded construction booms, cheap bank credit, and a tightly managed exchange rate. Holding the Birr (Brewed Buck) artificially high kept imported fuel and food affordable, giving the appearanc...

Jul 13 , 2025

CBE Capital Deserves the Headlines. Now the Hard Work Begins

CBE Capital Investment Bank announced on June 26, 2025, its first “inter-broker trade” on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), the bourse that opened its doors only weeks earlier. A few days before, Gadaa Bank became the second firm to list. The twi...

Jul 12 , 2025


My Opinion

The City That Refuses to Hear Itself

Every morning in the Jemo neighbourhood, in the western outskirts of Addis Abeba, starts with music, not the song a passer-by chooses, but the one that chooses her. Cafés line the dusty road and hang horn-loaded speakers above the doorway, each tuned to a different station or streaming list. Ethio-pop spills into Afrobeats, colliding with yesterday's ballad, all of it amplified in a contest of sh...

Jul 13 , 2025


Baking a Country to Prosperity on Borrowed Yeast

When my father retired from the civil service years ago, he opened a narrow bakery, with four walls, an iron oven, and a hopeful sign. It sent hot loaves to schoolchildren racing to the morning bell. For me, a teenager drafted into wage-free summer shifts, the...

Jul 5 , 2025

A "Talking Gorilla" Walks into Mercato

A couple of evenings ago, TikTok served up a scene that felt equal parts circus and science fiction. An Amharic-speaking Gorilla character strolling through Merkato, waving at fruit vendors, cracking jokes and locking eyes with the camera in a way that seemed...

Jun 28 , 2025






Featured

Apparel Market Struggles Beneath a Second-Hand Deluge

Each June, Addis Abeba's high-altitude chill arrives with afternoon downpours, soaking school commutes and unraveling family budgets. For many, clothing the household for the season feels less like shopping and more like financial triage. Aster Lemma headed to a boutique near the 22_mazoaria neighbourhood expecting mid-season prices. She wanted to buy a new rain jacket for her seven- and 10-year daughters. The shop greeted her with racks of bright and weatherproof coats. Each one cost 3,800 B...

Jul 6 , 2025


Commentaries

The Cost of Capital Is a Public-Health Emergency for Africa

The annual meeting of the World Health Organisation's member states, May's 78th World Health Assembly (WHA), ended on a self-congratulatory note. From an agreement on pandemic preparedness to increases in assessed contributions to the WHO, there were plenty of achievements to tout. But there was an elephant in the room, hiding behind a banner reading "One World for Health" (the event's theme), the high borrowing costs faced by African countries. Despite being the world's youngest continent, A...

Jul 12 , 2025


News Analysis

Siinqee Bank Accelerates Growth, Struggles to Convert Scale into Profit

Siinqee Bank has burst confidently from microfinance trenches into the competitive commercial banking industry, posting an impressive profit surge that outshone many peers. Its net profit jumped by 82.7pc during the financial year ending June 30, 2024, displaying a rapid growth trajectory that few of its generational counterparts could match. Nevertheless, while its deposit base grew explosively, Siinqee Bank's lending operations faced substantial limitations, mainly due to the National Bank...

May 11 , 2025


Delicate Number

195,300,000

The value in dollars of a short-term capital deficit in the fourth quarter of 2023/24, representing a reversal from a surplus of 23 million dollars during the same period of the previous year. The sharp reversal could be caused by a combination of regulatory caps on new short-term inflows or heightened outflows for FX coverage, pushing the net position deeply into negative territory.

Jul 13 , 2025


Fineline

Leaders of the National . . .

Leaders of the National Election Board are in a charm offensive mood, of a sort. Last week, they organised a rare tour for members of the media, showcasing what polling stations will look like during the upcoming national elections; and they took the...

Oct 3 , 2020


Verbatim

"You come to understand that things aren't in black and white."

Mustafe M. Omar, president of the Somali Regional State, told BBC Amharic that governing looks far different from inside the political leadership than it does from the sidelines, under "regular political discourse."






Fortune Video




Sunday With Eden

Half a Century of Impact

On a cold Saturday afternoon last week, we gathered to honour a couple who have profoundly shaped both my life and my husband's, not just spiritually or emotionally, but in how we understand marriage, resilience, and purpose. They were celebrating 50 years of marriage. For five decades, they have lived out a love story rooted not in ease or perfection, but in unshakable commitment, service, and...

Jul 12 , 2025


Rise Without Ruin

At times, the pursuit of opportunity quietly takes on a ruthless tone. Success begins to feel like a zero-sum game, where someone must lose for another to win. This mindset isn't confined to boardrooms or political arenas; it seeps into homes, friendships, and...

Jul 5 , 2025

Real Respect Shows Up First

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself at a social gathering where strangers and old acquaintances mix in a haze of small talk and light laughter. It was meant to be forgettable, a blur of pleasantries and passing moments. But something I witnessed there stayed...

Jun 28 , 2025


Life Matters

The Quiet Roar Beneath the Calm

There is often a sense of awe when encountering someone who appears to have everything under control. Impeccably dressed, composed, and seemingly immune to stress, such individuals exude a calm that feels almost enviable. Yet, beneath that exterior may lie a hidden condition known as highly functional anxiety. It has become increasingly common, slipping by unnoticed precisely because it wears the...

Jun 28 , 2025


The Nuances of Baby Carrying

Each morning, just beyond the compound gates, a familiar image greets the day: a mother walking briskly with her baby snug in a front carrier. The child's legs, splayed outward in a “bracket” shape, often draw the eye. It is the same with another neighbour...

Jul 5 , 2025

The Quiet Roar Beneath the Calm

There is often a sense of awe when encountering someone who appears to have everything under control. Impeccably dressed, composed, and seemingly immune to stress, such individuals exude a calm that feels almost enviable. Yet, beneath that exterior may lie a h...

Jun 28 , 2025





Radar

Six Fuel Companies Banned, Seven Warned, Authority Noted Illicit Activity

The Ethiopian Petroleum & Energy Authority has taken disciplinary action against 13 fuel distribution companies for illegally trading 2.8 million litres of fuel outside the digital system in the past two months. Six firms face a one-month suspension from the fuel import and trading market, while seven others received final warnings and must rectify their operations within a month. Director...

Jul 13 , 2025


Korenti, Agelegel Microfinance Ink EV Financing Deal

Korenti Auto Trading PLC has signed a strategic agreement with Agelegel Microfinance to provide accessible financing options for electric vehicle (EV) buyers. The partnership seeks to ease EV ownership by offering fair pricing and loan packages with affordable rates. The initiative supports Ethiopia's push for clean transport and aligns with national sustainability goals. Korenti's managing direct...

Jul 13 , 2025

In Picture

INFINITE FEATURES

Temesgen Gebrehiwot (PhD), Founder and CEO of ETTA Solutions, Asfaw Alemu, president of Dashen Bank, and Seid Aragaw, chief marketing officer of Ethio telecom, officially launched ‘Zoorya' on July 12, 2025, at the Sheraton Addis Hotel. Zoorya is an ERCA-compliant business automation platform that generates official receipts for the Revenues Office and can be customised for different business nee...

Jul 14 , 2025


AUTO MARINES

Braving Addis Abeba's flooded streets like seasoned sailors, these cars navigate murky puddles and sudden waves with ease. Each splash exposes the city's drainage problems, turning morning commutes into off-road adventures through urban waterscapes that challenge both patience and suspension systems. As the rain pours, vehicles become submarines sailing through floods caused by infrastructural fai...

Jul 14 , 2025