Digital Payment Scramble Heats Up

Mar 27 , 2021


The new buzz in the private sector is to enter the digital payment-gateway market. Last week, Sunpay Solution S.C. joined 13 private companies applying for licenses to become operators. The digital retail payment industry has seen a flurry of activity ever since the central bank issued a directive last year allowing non-financial institutions to provide payment operators and instrument issuer services, privileges previously only allowed to banks. Part of the Sunshine Investment Group, best known for its flagship construction work, Sunpay expects to receive permits from the central bank and launch its "Sunpay" digital payment platform later this year. Founding shareholders of the company held their first general assembly last week in the Marriott Hotel, gearing up to enter the digital banking arena with an initial registered capital of 100 million Br. It is double the amount required by law. Its founders have also announced that it plans on working as a switch operator in the near future. "We're excited about joining the growing retail payment sector," said Etsub Alemayehu, representative of the company.


Radar

HEFTY GREEN

Street vendors around the Shola area take a rest in the shades of the capital's newly planted trees. Upon reporting on its 10-month performance before Parliament, the Agriculture Minister, Girma Amentie indicated that up to 43pc of the arable land in the country has been rendered acidic. This requires large amounts of limestone to be imported from abroad; the tight forex crunch has not allowed the Ministry of Finance to fund the endeavour easily. Following the rallying call of the Prime Minister...


Radar

DAMP DENIMS

Residents of communal houses around the Weji area hang their clothes on the fences outside. Textile manufacturing accounts for 87pc of Ethiopia's products from industrial parks. Expulsion from the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to the war in the North resulted in Ethiopia being expelled from the preferential trade act. Most companies choosing to rent sheds within the industrial parks do so out of a desire to access the duty-free privileges provided for African countries. Ethiopi...


Radar

PRICY PLEASURES

Vendors put traditional beauty products from the Somali Regional State for sale around Mexico area. In November of last year, the Ministry of Finance banned imported goods under 38 categories, including cosmetics, packed foods, and furniture, from accessing letters of credit. The move resulted in the tripling of costs for cosmetic items like lipstick and nail polish. As Ethiopia ran a 14 billion dollar merchandise trade deficit last year due to import bills hiking by 26pc , a tight clampdown on...