The week in picture December 17, 2018

Radar

Creditors Open Way for Ethiopia's Eurobond Restructuring

Ethiopia has cleared a key hurdle in restructuring its one billion dollar Eurobond after the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) approved the latest agreement with private bondholders. The OCC said the deal meets its “comparability of treatment” principle, allowing the government to proceed with restructuring the bond, which matured in 2024. The approval follows renewed negotiations after official creditors rejected an earlier agreement reached in January. Under the new agreement, reache...

University Cutoff Leaves Most Exam Takers Behind

Only 70,544 students, or 12.8pc of those who sat the Ethiopian Secondary School Leaving Certificate Examination (ESSLCE), scored above the 50pc threshold required for university admission. Education Minister Berhanu Nega (Prof.) disclosed the results during a press briefing last Saturday. Nearly 32pc of the successful candidates were from Addis Abeba, giving the city the highest share. Oromia Regional State followed, while Amhara Regional State accounted for the remaining share. The res...

Dairy Drive Turns to Farmers to Cut Import Reliance

A five-year dairy project targeting 350,000 farmers has increased average milk production per cow by 3.8 litres a day, supporting Ethiopia's effort to replace imported dairy products with domestic output. The Ministry of Agriculture leads the initiative in collaboration with SNV's BRIDGE Plus project. It combines cow-focused advisory services, technology, market links and farmer capacity-building to raise dairy productivity. The work has centred on helping farmers produce surplus milk for sal...