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Oct 5 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Mesfin Rebrands to Overcome Wartime Shadow

In Meqelle, a name long associated with industrial grit and regional pride is undergoing a strategic metamorphosis. On October 2, 2025, Mesfin Industrial Engineering Plc shed its old skin, emerging as "Mesfin Metals & Engineering Plc," also known as Mesfin, in a rebranding campaign that was a...

Oct 5 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER

Fed Shifts Gears as Motorists Face New Tax

The federal government is set to roll out a new "motor vehicle circulation tax" in the current fiscal year, targeting fuel-powered vehicles. The policy, though publicly justified as a move toward environmental sustainability, carries strong fiscal undertones, meeting the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) push for domestic revenue mobilisation. Officials are expected to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio by 1.7 percentage points this fiscal year alone, a tall order that has placed fuel vehicles squarely in the crosshairs. According to people familiar with the matter, the policy is designed to p...

Oct 5 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Bank of Abyssinia Loses Landmark Plot as City Reclaims Skyscraper Site

The Bank of Abyssinia is wrestling with the loss of a prime plot of land once leased for its future headquarters, a setback that has left shareholders unhappy, directors frustrated, and city administrators firm in their position. The Bank's directors informed shareholders who met last week at the Adwa Zero Museum that the city administration had seized the plot in the Mexico Square area, near the Wabi Shabelle Hotel, on Abeba Aregay Street, and returned it to the Land Bank. The news came as shareholders were expecting an update on the planned 270-metre, 60-story headquarters that would have...

Oct 5 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER

New Tariff Regime Raises Costs, Doubts

The Customs Commission has introduced new tariffs on a wide range of imported goods in response to a directive from the Ministry of Finance. Signed by Azezew Chane, the commissioner representative, and distributed to all branch offices across the country, the changes follow recommendations from the Ministry of Industry and were approved by former Eyob Tekalegn (PhD), while he was state minister for Finance. According to the Finance Ministry, the revised tariff structure is part of an ongoing effort to match trade policy with the realities facing manufacturers and ensure fair tariff rates fo...

Fortune News

Oct 5 , 2025

Ethiopia's WTO Accession Enters Final Stretch After Two Decades Drift

After more than two decades of protracted deliberations and political hesitation, Ethiopia's ambition to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has reached a decisive and accelerated phase. A sixth W...

Sep 27 , 2025

IN MESQEL SQUARE, FAITH ENDURES!

Meskel Square turned into a rolling wave of colour and sound on Friday, September 26, 2025, as thousands pressed toward the annual bonfire celebrating the holiday of Mesqel, which honours the discover...

Unity University Hikes Tuition Fee, Students Push Back

Unity University has increased tuition fees sharply, jolting students and families alike, drawing criticism for what many consider a poorly communicated and abrupt financial burden. For some, fees...

Sep 27 , 2025

Commodity Exchange Struggles to Hold Ground as Direct Trade Surges

Seventeen years after its inception as a flagship market reform for agricultural modernisation, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) is wrestling with a crisis of fade in practicality. Once haile...

Sep 27 , 2025

Construction Authority Rolls Out Licensing Regime for Elevator Indus-try

The elevator industry is bracing for sweeping reforms as construction regulators are to impose the first comprehensive licensing and inspection regime on companies installing, maintaining, and inspect...

Sep 27 , 2025

Customs Commission Unshackles Container Deposits

The Ethiopian Customs Commission (ECC) has ended its long-standing policy requiring importers to lodge large cash deposits or financial guarantees before moving shipping containers from ports into the...

Sep 27 , 2025

Drug Makers Left in Limbo as Macroeconomic Reforms Bite

The pharmaceutical industry, which has long been championed as a vehicle for import substitution and national self-reliance, is facing mounting pressures. Currency shortages, rigid procurement fram...

Sep 27 , 2025

Authority's Drive to Clean Up Agriculture Faces Uphill Battle Over Cost, Compliance

The federal government is to inject nearly 31 million dollars into a sweeping overhaul of the country's plant health regime, a strategy authorities hope will safeguard farmers, revive export credibili...

Sep 21 , 2025

Eyob Steps into the Hot Seat with Reform on His Mind

Eyob Tekalegn (PhD) assumed the governorship of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) last week with a pledge to overhaul the Central Bank into “a regulatory body fit for purpose in a modern economy.�...

Sep 21 , 2025

Ministry Moves to Bridge Graduate-Employer Gap with Mandatory Employment Centres

The Ministry of Education is proposing a comprehensive overhaul to address the growing crisis of graduate unemployment. A draft directive currently under review would require all public universities a...

Sep 21 , 2025

Ethiopia Faces Debt Turmoil as Recovery Hopes Dim

Ethiopia has reached a critical juncture after years of aggressive borrowing to fund a state-led growth model. It now finds itself in the crosshairs of global financial scrutiny, following last week's...

Sep 21 , 2025

Cracking Neighborhood Exposes Addis Abeba's Deep Fault Lines

A cluster of condominiums and a public school in Addis Abeba have become the epicentre of a growing urban crisis, as structural cracks have forced authorities to fence off the premises and residents i...

Sep 21 , 2025

Audit Sector Buckles Under Weight of Global Standards

The Ethiopian Accounting & Auditing Board (AABE) has laid bare a sector struggling with the contradictions of ambition and reality. The Board's audit quality review, years in the making and now ha...

Sep 21 , 2025

Fed Ramps Up Climate Spending While Debt, Social Services Strain

The federal government is staking a growing share of its expanding budget on climate resilience, an act seen as a political will that may double as economic self-harm, a new cross-country analysis by...

Sep 21 , 2025

Bitcoin Miners Hit Power Wall as Power Company Prioritises Grid Access Over Digital Gold Rush

Executives at the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) have ruled out any new electricity allocations for Bitcoin mining firms, closing the door, at least temporarily, on expansion plans by global heavyweig...

Sep 15 , 2025

Monument to National Ambition, Geopolitical Agency

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa's largest hydroelectric power project, was formally inaugurated last week, ending a 14-year journey marked by intense national pride, financial impro...

Columns

Commentaries | Oct 04,2025

Central Bank Loosens Credit Reins But Stops Short of Bold Overhaul

Eyob Tekalegn (PhD) had been in the Governor's chair for only weeks when, on September 29...

Editorial | Oct 4 , 2025

TRADITION THRIVES AS COSTS CLIMB

As dawn broke over Addis Abeba last week, the city's arteries pulsed not with the usual we...

Featured | Oct 5 , 2025 . By REDIET YARED

Textbook Shortages Mount as School Year Advances

The school year in Addis Abeba began almost a month ago, yet across the capital, thousands...

Agenda |

Mesfin Rebrands to Overcome Wartime Shadow

In Meqelle, a name long associated with industrial grit and regional pride is undergoing a...

Fortune News | Oct 5 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Mesfin Rebrands to Overcome Wartime Shadow

Fed Shifts Gears as Motorists Face New Tax

Bank of Abyssinia Loses Landmark Plot as City Reclaims Skyscraper Site