5.7m People Affected by Severe Drought Need Food Assistance: WFP

Feb 12 , 2022


The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 5.7 million people affected by severe drought need food assistance in eastern Ethiopia. The organisation plans to support 2.9 million people with food relief in the Somali Regional State and around 600,000 children and mothers with nutritional and preventative treatments against malnutrition. This emergency response will be complemented by expanding microinsurance support for up to 18,000 at-risk pastoralists, reads a press release from the organisation. The WFP is also seeking to include 50,000 children in its school meals programme, which supports 87,000 children across 254 schools in other drought-affected regions of Oromia and the Southern Regional State. According to the press release issued by WFP, 13 million people are facing drought-induced hunger in the Horn of Africa. Close to three million and four million people are in need of assistance in Kenya and Somalia, respectively, according to its estimates.


Radar

Electricity Bills Get the VAT Jolt

The new Value Added Tax (VAT) has begun implementation on electricity consumption and various service fees affecting customers who use more than 200 kilowatt hours of electricity per month. Based on a directive from the Ministry of Finance, the tax will be applied to the excess amount of electricity consumption above 200 kilowatt hours. The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) began implementing the VAT on bills starting from November though both prepaid and postpaid customers will have to pay V...


Radar

Gadaa Bank Expands Reach, Faces Lending Constraints

Gadaa Bank closed its first full fiscal year of operations with a net profit of 90.2 million Br. The 18-month-old Bank held its annual general assembly at Millenium Hall on Africa Avenue last week where the board announced that during the year, the Bank opened 15 branches and now has 85 operational branches. “Due to recently enacted policy measures on credit by NBE and unmet resource mobilization during the fiscal year, the Bank was unable to make loan disbursements,” stated Wolde...


Radar

Oromia Bank's Branch Expansion Weighs on Profits

Oromia Bank reported a 47pc decline in net profit to take in 840.9 million Br for the past fiscal year. Interest income grew by 21pc to reach 7.19 billion Br while personnel expense grew by 36pc to hit 3.16 billion Br. The opening of 72 new branches, bringing the total to 575, led to a four percent growth of deposits to 56.4 billion Br. The profits are “unsatisfactory against our ambitious moves,” said Assefa Seme (PhD), board chairperson. “The deviation is primarily attributed to our aggr...