Liability Corporation Inks Deal to Soak up 400b Br Debt

Aug 21 , 2021


The newly established Liability & Asset Management Corporation has inked a deal with six state-owned enterprises to soak up 398.7 billion Br in debts belonging to five state-owned enterprises. The debts are owed to the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) in the form of corporate bond. The Corporation, led by Mulalem Getahun, its deputy CEO, signed an agreement with officials of the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP); the Ethio-Engineering Group (EEG), the former Metals & Engineering Corporation (MetEC); the Chemical Industry Corporation (CIC); the Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC); and the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation (ESC). EEP has a total of 370 billion Br in outstanding debts, by far the largest from among the cosigners. Railway Corporation and Ethio-Engineering follow with 120 billion Br and 74 billion Br, respectively. The Sugar Corporation is a little over 70 billion Br in debt. The Corporation was established earlier this year to soak up close to 570 billion Br in debts owed by government enterprises. It will soon be signing additional deals with the SOEs to soak up debts owed to international lenders.


Radar

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 VAT a...


Radar

World Bank Greases Financial Overhaul

The World Bank approved 700 million dollars in credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to scale up support for the financial sector. The funds are targeted at modernizing the regulatory and supervisory framework of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), supporting governance reforms, balance sheet restructuring, and recapitalization of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and transforming the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) into a sustainable development finance institutio...


Radar

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 Bulto,...