Electoral Board Reveals Election Map

The National Election Board of Ethiopia unveiled a map showing where the polling stations will be located for the upcoming general election to be held on August 29, 2020. 


Electoral Board Reveals Election Map

The National Election Board of Ethiopia unveiled a map showing where the polling stations will be located for the upcoming general election to be held on August 29, 2020. It is the first time such a map has been drawn in Ethiopian election history. The board has not redrawn the election districts but rather organised the dispersed data into a map to show to citizens where polling stations will be situated, according to Birtukan Mideksa, chairperson of the Board. According to the map, Tigray has 38 constituencies, while Afar and Amhara have 32 and 138, respectively. Somali has 72 constituencies; Benishangul-Gumuz, 21; Oromia, 179; SNNPR, 123; Gambella, 14; Harari, two; Dire Dawa, two; and Addis Abeba, 10. The parliament has 547 seats, whereas the regional council of Tigray will have 152 representatives; Somali, 273; Oromia, 537; Amhara, 294; SNNPR, 348; Addis Abeba, 138; Dire Dawa, 189; Harari, 36; Gambella, 156; Benishangul-Gumuz, 99; and Afar, 96. Close to 2,000 people were deployed for the data collection in the regions covering the kebeles and weredas.


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 VAT a...


Radar

World Bank Greases Financial Overhaul

The World Bank approved 700 million dollars in credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to scale up support for the financial sector. The funds are targeted at modernizing the regulatory and supervisory framework of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), supporting governance reforms, balance sheet restructuring, and recapitalization of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and transforming the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) into a sustainable development finance institutio...


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 Bulto,...