FORTUNE+ VIDEO SPONSORED CONTENTS ADVERTORIALS FORTUNE AUDIO Fortune Careers TRADE AFRICA Election 2026 New TIME REMAINING UNTIL ETHIOPIA’S NATIONAL ELECTION 0Days 0Hours 0Minutes 0Seconds




Central Bank Rolls Out $150m License Fee for Mobile Money Operators

Feb 25 , 2023


[ssba-buttons]

International mobile money operators will be required to pay a staggering 150 million dollar license fee as the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) put forth a draft proposal signed by the director of the Payment and Settlement System. According to the draft, the fee is an investment protection cost for foreign nationals investing in businesses that are open only to local investors or the government. The status of Safaricom's application to introduce mobile money services is now open for discussion. The Kenyan telecommunications service provider Safaricom has expressed its interest in expanding the use of its mobile money service, M-Pesa, in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, it was prohibited from providing money-remittance services due to legal restrictions. Allowing for bigger electronic account balances and higher transaction limits, the new regulation raises the amount that can be stored in digital wallets. A maximum daily electronic account balance of 10,000 Br and a daily transaction cap of 20,000 Br apply to level one accounts, while a 300,000 Br cap and a maximum electronic balance of 100,000 Br is allowed for level two accounts.


Radar

Parliament Receives $237m Development Loan Package

The Council of Ministers forwarded two concessional loan agreements totalling 237.3 million dollars to Parliament for ratification, targeting rural infrastructure and food security. The package includes 46.3 million dollars from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for climate-resilient infrastructure in pastoralist regions. A second credit facility of 191 million dollars (146.1 million SDR) from the International Development Association (IDA) is earmarked for the sixth phase of the Productive Sa...


Radar

MoTRI to Overhaul Consumer Protection Rules Following Cabinet Approval of Trade Policy

The Council of Ministers, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), approved Ethiopia's first unified trade policy last week, ending a three-year deliberation period to fill a decades-long regulatory vacuum. This institutional milestone mandates the Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration (MoTRI) to overhaul consumer protection frameworks, specifically requiring a rigorous revision of the Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Proclamation to eliminate market distortions and the proliferat...


Radar

Regional Power Exports Yield $366m as Capacity Hits 9.6GW

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) generated 365.99 million dollars from regional exports in the first nine months of the fiscal year as national capacity reached 9,579MW. The revenue followed the sale of 24,940GWh, representing 91pc of gross generation. Hydropower remains dominant, providing 9,500MW. To diversify assets and mitigate climate risks, the utility integrated the 100MW Asela Wind Power Project. The transmission network has expanded to 148,600km to secure domestic industrial supply and...