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Ethiopia Kicks off Construction of Irrigation Dam

Jun 8 , 2019

The construction of the 3.3-billion-Br Guder Sato Irrigation Dam project started in West Showa Zone, Oromia Regional State. Expected to benefit 5,000 household farmers, the irrigation dam will be constructed by the Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation (ECWC), which has 15,000 employees and operates with a capital of 20 billion Br. Oromia Water Works Corporation will supervise the construction. The Dam, which will be 4.6m high and 273m long, will trap 57 million cubic metres of water to irrigate 5,000ha of land. Five months ago, the Auditor General confronted the Ministry of Water & Irrigation for delays and cost overruns of the Zarema Mayday and Megech irrigation dams, which have cost a total of 13.6 billion Br. Gemechu Dubisso, the auditor general, reported the inflated aggregate cost of the two irrigation dams to parliament last January.

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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...

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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...

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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...

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