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Jul 6 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER

Unity at the Budget Vote Tensions at Question Time

The federal legislature gave Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) what he wanted: a 1.9 trillion Br budget passed unanimously and without dissent. But what looked like a choreographed display of parliamentary consensus quickly gave way to sharp looks from some of the MPs once the Prime Minister remain...

Jul 6 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

Addis Abeba to Launch Sweeping Crackdown on Construction Safety Failures

In a city rising skyward at breakneck speed, a reckoning has arrived. Authorities in Addis Abeba have declared a sweeping crackdown on unsafe construction practices, putting thousands of developers, contractors, and consultants on notice. Beginning July 12, 2025, the city will deploy a task force to conduct surprise inspections of over 24,000 active building sites, in a bold move city officials frame as "long overdue" and potentially life-saving. A task force led by Wendimu Seta, the city's general manager, will undertake unannounced inspections of active building sites. Any site lacking...


Jul 6 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Finance Ministry Mandates Open Access to Digital Payments in Public Sector

A landmark directive from the Ministry of Finance signals a paradigm shift in the country's digital payments architecture. Federal agencies are now required to accept a full spectrum of electronic payment methods, including debit cards, mobile wallets, prepaid instruments, and digital banking transfers, irrespective of the provider, as long as it is licensed by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). In a decisive break from precedent, the directive prohibits preferential treatment for state-affiliated platforms such as the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and telebirr, which have long domina...


Jul 6 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE

Awash Bank Stakes Claim in Budding Capital Market with Investment Banking Arm

Awash Bank has announced plans to establish a dedicated investment banking subsidiary with an initial capital outlay of 200 million Br. The move, touted by industry observers as a step signalling growing confidence in the nascent capital markets, positions the Bank as the third entrant into the emerging investment banking landscape, following Wegagen and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). This comes on the heels of a record-breaking financial performance. Awash posted a gross profit before tax of 22 billion Br for the 2024/25 fiscal year, a staggering 113pc increase over the previous ye...

Fortune News

Jul 6 , 2025

Minister Habtamu Bets on a Smoke-Free Future While Flames of Doubt Linger

Habtamu Itafa's Ministry for Water & Energy unveiled a 10-year roadmap for national clean cooking last week, designed to replace traditional biomass cooking with electric, fuel-efficient, and sola...

Jul 6 , 2025

Tax Audits Unnerve Farm Cooperatives as Liabilities Mount

Fetena Shifa never imagined that an audit would threaten the future of the Bench Maji Farmers Association Union, one of 110,584 primary cooperative unions in Ethiopia. As General Manager of the Union...

Jun 29 , 2025

PRIVATE EDUCATION COSTS CLIMB FAST

Addis Abeba's first rains have coincided with a sweeping rise in private school tuition, prompting the city's education regulators to cap increases between 40pc and 65pc after most schools sought hike...

Jun 29 , 2025

Central Bank Claims Monetary Policy Overhaul as Forex Reforms Take Root

Central Bank Governor Mamo Mihretu claimed a bold reconfiguration of monetary policy and foreign exchange management, marking a break from years of fiscal dominance, closed financial architecture, and...

Jun 29 , 2025

Authorities' Crackdown on Road Safety Risks Testing Transport Sector Fault Lines

The federal government is betting on a sweeping overhaul of the driver licensing regime to reverse a grim road safety trajectory, but its single-minded focus on professional certification has sparked...

Jun 29 , 2025

Gadaa Bank Debuts on Securities Exchange

Gadaa Bank has listed 1.2 million shares on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX), becoming the second financial institution to go public after Wegagen Bank. The listing, done through an “intro...

Jun 29 , 2025

AG Meseret Flags Billions in Unrecovered Funds

The federal government continues to wrestle with entrenched fiscal mismanagement, a scathing audit report by Auditor General Meseret Damtie revealed. Presenting her findings to Parliament last week...

Jun 21 , 2025

ENAT BANK'S MEASURABLE EQUITY

In a landmark move to promote gender equity in the banking industry, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has released its inaugural Gender Financial Inclusion Index, positioning Enat Bank at the foref...

Jun 21 , 2025

Real Estate Faces Sweeping Regulatory Overhaul

Officials of the Ministry of Urban & Infrastructure have tabled a draft regulation they believe will restore public trust and tighten fiscal discipline. Unveiled at the “2025 Ethio Real Estat...

Electric Blitz Strands Domestic Car Builders

A sudden ban on the importation of semi-knockdown and completely knockdown kits for gasoline-powered vehicles, a move authorities say rapidly accelerates a shift toward electric mobility, has left a b...

Jun 21 , 2025

Hefty Deposit Thresholds Threaten Maritime Labour Export Ambitions

Mufariat Kamil, minister of Labour & Skills (MoLS), is rewriting the rules on overseas work, hoping to export skilled labour rather than being limited to housemaid services. A bill her experts...

Jun 21 , 2025

Legal Battle Over BGI Ethiopia Shares Escalates to Federal High Court

A high-stakes legal battle over the disputed ownership of shares in one of Ethiopia's most iconic breweries, BGI Ethiopia Plc, has reached the Lideta Division of the Federal High Court. Lawyers rep...

Jun 21 , 2025

Tax Overhaul Treats Lawyers as Traders, Ignites Bar Uproar

The legal fraternity is facing a moment of uncertainty as sweeping tax reforms have effectively changed the long-standing fixed-rate tax scheme for lawyers, without offering a clearly defined replacem...

Jun 15 , 2025

KEGNA BEER POURS INTO COMPETITIVE MARKET

Kegna Beverages on Saturday, June 14, 2025, uncorked its first bottles of Kegna Beer, a domestically owned, five percent ABV lager brewed in the West Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State, marking what...

Jun 15 , 2025

Fed Unleashes Record Budget as Spending Priorities Draw Fire

The federal government presented legislators with a budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025/26, marking an unprecedented shift in the country's fiscal approach. The budget bill totals 1.93 trillio...

Jun 15 , 2025

Billions Unaccounted as Auditors Watch Recovery Rates Stall in Bureaucratic Quagmire

A three-year effort by the Audit Stakeholders Forum to restore fiscal discipline across federal institutions has yielded meagre returns. Despite broader coordination among oversight bodies, enforcemen...


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Civil Society Feels the Squeeze as Reform Era Unravels

Six years ago, Ethiopia was the darling of international liberal commentators. A year earl...

Editorial | Jul 5 , 2025

Apparel Market Struggles Beneath a Second-Hand Deluge

Each June, Addis Abeba's high-altitude chill arrives with afternoon downpours, soaking sch...

Featured | Jul 6 , 2025 . By RUTH BERHANU

When Pepper Burns the Purse

The late-morning sun cuts through Addis Abeba's usual haze and lands on Haile Garment, an...

Agenda | Jul 6 , 2025 . By YITBAREK GETACHEW

Unity at the Budget Vote Tensions at Question Time

The federal legislature gave Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) what he wanted: a 1.9 trillio...

Fortune News | Jul 6 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER