The Ministry of Finance has announced the purchase of over 43 million litres of palm cooking oil from the Golden Africa Company in Djibouti to provide the public with affordable edible oil. The contract was signed by the Ethiopian Industrial Resources Development Organisation, Ethiopian Business Corporation and the Ministry guaranteeing over 69 million dollars to the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The federal government earmarked 400 million dollars to import crude palm oil a few months ago, mainly from Malaysia, for distribution to five large-scale edible oil plants. The central bank adjusted its priority list for forex allocation by commercial banks. Inputs for edible oil production were at the top of the list, alongside medicine, pharmaceutical, and laboratory reagents.