Railway Corporation Gets New CEO


Sintayehu Woldemichael (PhD), former Minister of Education, became the new CEO of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation on November 5, 2018. The Corporation has been led by acting CEO Yehuwalashet Jemere since the resignation of the former CEO Berhanu Beshah (PhD). Sileshi Bekele (PhD), Minister for Water, Irrigation & Energy and chairperson of the board of directors of the Corporation, approved the resignation of Berhanu Beshah (PhD) on October 1, 2018. The new CEO served as the director general of the Public Financial Institutions Supervision Agency before coming to the Ministry of Education. Ethiopian Railway Corporation was established on November 2007 by the Council of Ministers. The Corporation has overseen multi-billion dollar projects of railway routes in eight corridors including the Addis Abeba-Modjo-Awash-Dire Dawa-Dewaele; Modjo-Shashemne-Arbaminch-Konso-Moyale; Addis Abeba-Ljaji–Jimma–Gudaferda Dima, with an extension to South Sudan; and the Awash-Kombolcha-Meqelle–Shire routes.


Radar

HEFTY GREEN

Street vendors around the Shola area take a rest in the shades of the capital's newly planted trees. Upon reporting on its 10-month performance before parliament, the Agricultural Minister indicated that up to 43pc of the arable land in the country has been rendered acidic. This requires large amounts of limestone to be imported from abroad; the tight forex crunch has not allowed the Finance Ministry to fund the endeavour easily. Following the rallying call of the PM a staggering 6 billion seedl...


Radar

DAMP DENIMS

Residents of communal houses around the Weji area hang their clothes on the fences outside. Textile manufacturing accounts for 87pc of Ethiopia's products from industrial parks. Expulsion from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to the war in the North resulted in Ethiopia being expelled from the preferential trade act. Most companies choosing to rent sheds within the industrial parks do so out of a desire to access the duty-free privileges provided for African countries. Ethiopia...


Radar

PRICY PLEASURES

Vendors put traditional beauty products from the Somali regional state for sale around Mexico. In November of last year, the Ministry of Finance banned imported goods under 38 categories, including cosmetics, packed foods, and furniture, from accessing letters of credit. The move resulted in the tripling of costs for cosmetic items like lipstick and nail polish. As Ethiopia ran a 14 billion dollar merchandise trade deficit last year due to import bills hiking by 26pc , a tight clampdown on forei...