Ethiopia Embarks on Polish Assistance to Bolster Tax Revenues

Jul 8 , 2023


Poland pledges to assist Ethiopia with effective and equitable tax collection through its "tax solidarity program". State Minister for Finance, Semereta Sewasew, and Przemyslaw Bobak, ambassador of Poland to Ethiopia signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) last week at an event held at the Ministry headquarters on King George Street. According to the Ministry of Finance officials, the program will support the administration, collection and digitization of the tax system as the country aspires to broaden its tax base and collect 440.8 billion Br in revenues in the next fiscal year. Tax solidarity is a program under the Polish Ministry of Finance that aims to support the efforts of developing countries to make their tax systems equitable and efficient. It aims to build the capacity of government tax and revenue collection through training in a span of three years.


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 V...


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...


Radar

Oromia Bank's Branch Expansion Weighs on Profits

Oromia Bank reported a 47pc decline in net profit to take in 840.9 million Br for the past fiscal year. Interest income grew by 21pc to reach 7.19 billion Br while personnel expense grew by 36pc to hit 3.16 billion Br. The opening of 72 new branches, bringing the total to 575, led to a four percent growth of deposits to 56.4 billion Br. The profits are “unsatisfactory against our ambitious moves,” said Assefa Seme (PhD), board chairperson. “The deviation is primarily attributed to our aggr...