Ethiopia has been hit by an acute shortage of basic commodities following a recently imposed price ceiling. To study the cause of this shortage, the government, last week, met with local entrepreneurs.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the government will further strengthen efforts to stabilize market in the country. While responding to questions posed by members of the parliament here on Thursday, Meles said the recent measures taken by the government to stabilize market will further continue strengthened.

የአዲስ አበባ ንግድና ኢንዱስትሪ ልማት ቢሮ ከየካቲት አንድ ጀምሮ በሁሉም ዘርፎች ለተሰማሩ ነጋዴዎች በአዲስ መልክ የንግድ ምዝገባና ፍቃድ ሊሰጥ ነው፡፡ ከነዚህ ጥረቶች አንዱ በእውቀት ላይ የተመሰረተ የግብይት ስርአት መዘርጋት በመሆኑ በሁሉም ዘርፍለተሰማሩ ነጋዴዎች ከየካቲት አንድ ጀምሮ ለአንድ አመት የሚቆይ የንግድ ምዘገባና ፍቃድለመስጠት ተዘጋጅቷል፡፡

The board of directors of Awash International Bank have dismissed Leikun Berhanu, the longest serving president of the bank, on Friday, December 31, 2010.

'Land grab' is the catch-phrase for the explosion of transnational commercial land transactions currently revolving mainly around the production and export of food and biofuels. Initially deployed by activist groups opposed to such transactions, the meaning of the phrase has been slowly eroding as it gets absorbed into mainstream development currents that see the global land rush as fertile ground for ‘win-win’ development schemes.

Hoarding is being blamed for the sudden closing of at least 50 shops in Merkato. The Addis Ketema Sub City Trade and Industry Development Bureau closed the shops in the biggest market center of town on December 21, 2010.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has announced increase in saving interest rate to five percent from four percent previously with a view to encouraging savers.

Financial institutions have raised concerns over the requirement by the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) for them to register for value-added tax (VAT) as a result of an error in the interpretation of the law.

Zemen and Dashen banks (SC) signed an agreement on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, that would allow customers of both banks to use the 80 automated teller machines (ATMs) they have between them, creating the second collaboration between private banks to share ATMs.

The 16.7 percent devaluation of the Ethiopian currency, the birr, announced last week, against major foreign currencies has seen price inflation rising into the double-digits on both imported and locally manufactured goods.