Ethiopia's Third Shot at Peace Gets a $6.7m Boost


A 6.7 million dollars to finance the National Rehabilitation Commission (NRC)'s disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) program for nearly 370,000 ex-combatants, was pledged by the Japanese government. The financing will be channelled to the design, implementation and monitoring of the DDR program across eight regional states. Shibata Hironori, ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, signed the agreement last week at the Ministry of Finance headquarters on King George VI St with Tesfalem Yihdego, deputy commissioner of the Commission and Semerta Sewasew, state minister for Finance. Ethiopia's third DDR program follows a 174-million-dollar effort over five years following the conflict with Eritrea. The first one was a 198 million-dollar project following the fall of the Derg regime 32 years ago. The government began efforts to mobilise funds to finance the DDR programs shortly after a cessation of hostilities agreement was signed in November 2022 after one of the bloodiest wars in the country's history. Temesgen Tilahun, the former deputy commissioner at the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), replaced Teshome Toga last month to head the NRC. The UN Department for Peace-Keeping Operations (DPKO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank have carried out disarmament and demobilisation processes globally, with 73 implementations since their inception in the 1970s.


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Parliament Overhauls Three Key Sectors

Parliament approved two key proclamations last week seeking to strengthen the justice system and civil registration processes. The first re-establishes the Federal Justice & Legal Institute under the Federal Supreme Court. The Institute will provide mandatory training for law graduates and professional development for judges, aiming to improve the competence and efficiency of legal professionals. Parliamentarians emphasized the importance of centralized pre-service training for all justice p...


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CBE Hits Deposits Record

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) achieved a record 303 billion Br in deposits in the first seven months of the budget year—the largest deposit amount in the Bank's history. Total deposits now sit at over 1.4 trillion Br. The CBE attained 147.6pc of forecasts and now accounts for 58.3pc of the sector's total. The total amount of loans provided by the Bank has reached over 1.3 trillion Br, with 88pc of the 153.32 billion Br in loans disbursed by the mid-budget year going to the private s...


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Revenue Bureau Cracks Down on Alleged Tax Evaders

Addis Abeba Revenue Bureau introduced a debt tracking system that would trace tax evaders. As a result, five vehicles were seized and sold to recover tax debts, generating 10.9 million Br. Currently, 13 additional vehicles and one residential property are in the process of being auctioned. In collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), the Bureau has been tracking taxpayers who try to escape the tax net. The Bureau has also announced that the deadline for submitting req...