Authorities Move to Keep Holiday Inflation At Bay

Sep 2 , 2023

The Addis Abeba City Administration has allocated the 1.4 billion Br revolving fund to the City Cooperatives Agency to mitigate the impact of inflation during the holiday season. A concomitant effort by the Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration has also formalised 170 markets, creating direct linkages with producers in regional states. While holiday season price hikes are common, the combination of conflict and disrupted supply chains from regional states have uniquely cast unfavourable clouds this year. State Minister Teshale Belhu held a briefing at the Ministry's headquarters last week in which he expressed full confidence that their efforts would result in sufficient supply during holiday shopping. The Minister attributed the price increments to illicit traders and security prices. Ethiopian Trade Works Corporation has partnered with the Ethiopian Industrial Inputs Development Enterprise to import 27.6 million litres of palm oil with prices ranging between 324 Br for three litres and 2,064 Br for 20ltr. Teshale indicated that millions of eggs will be disseminated at less than 10 Br a price as part of the Ministry's efforts to mitigate the price surge.