Addis Abeba Trade & Industry Bureau has granted 59,416 trade licenses of the planed 64,567 in the past fiscal year, meeting 92pc of its target. During the reporting period, the Bureau also renewed 223,364 licenses. “We faced the challenges of infrastructure, input shortages and boundary demarcations,” said Fentahun Eyayhu, director of trade & industry development at the Bureau. “We have to avoid illegal trade activity, because it is the main reason for increasing the high cost of living,” said Endaweq Abite, head of the Addis Abeba Trade & Industry Bureau in the rank of deputy mayor. To stabilise the market, the Bureau distributed 851,166ql of wheat, 1.1 million quintals of sugar and 80 million litres of edible oil in the past fiscal year.