Abyssinia, MFIs Ink 600m Br Loan Agreement

Jul 24 , 2021


The Bank of Abyssinia has agreed to provide 600 million Br in loans to four microfinance institutions (MFIs) as part of its efforts to comply with the central bank's policies. Facilitated by the Mastercard Foundation's BRIDGES Programme, Dynamic, Harbu, Metemamen and Nisir MFIs signed the agreement with the Bank during a ceremony held at the Skylight Hotel last week. In turn, the MFIs will use the funding to provide loans to smallholder farmers, micro, small and medium enterprises and other entities that face difficulties in borrowing from banks as they lack collateral. The agreement is part of a larger effort to implement a directive from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to enforce the operationalisation of a movable collateral registry. Passed last year, the directive states that all financial institutions are expected to extend loans to cooperative unions and small and micro enterprises in the agricultural sector.


Radar

New Unit to Oversee City Tax Audits

The Addis Abeba City Administration Revenues Bureau has launched a new work unit to ensure the quality of tax audit decisions through a re[1]auditing procedure. According to Adane Sule, the head of the bureau's office, the new audit quality assurance unit will seek to address gaps and malpractices that previously existed due to the absence of a similar body to verify tax audit decisions. He asserts that the unit's main goal is to re-audit decisions, verify their quality and relevance, and correc...


Radar

Shipping Behemoth Beats Profit Target Despite Cargo Dip

Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics (ESL) announced its six-month performance report for the fiscal year, revealing a mixed outcome. While it achieved 95pc of its operational service target, handling 2,880,187tn of cargo, this represents a slight decrease compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. The ESL attributed this dip primarily to global difficulties, notably Red Sea shipping disruptions. Despite these hurdles, the company reported exceeding its profit targets. Projecting...


Radar

Customs Hits Revenue Target, Cracks Down on Smuggling

The Ethiopian Customs Commission announced that it has exceeded its revenue collection target for the first six months of the fiscal year. The Commission collected 203.75 billion Br, surpassing the planned 190.9 billion birr by 106.73pc, representing a 106.7 billion Br increase compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. Commissioner Debele Kabeta noted that coordinated efforts with other institutions to prevent contraband contributed to the successful outcome, resulting in the seiz...