Ethiopia will probably meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the poverty rate by 2015 assuming it maintains current economic growth levels, according to the draft copy of a report written by the United Nations.

The Ethiopian Council of Ministers on Friday endorsed the $5.3 billion proposed budget for the 2010/2011 fiscal year, which is a record high in Ethiopia’s history.

Condominium houses will be transferred in a lottery draw in the next couple of weeks after the city administration announced it will not sell the houses to those who pay the full amount up front. In the last lottery, the Addis Ababa Housing Development Project Office transferred 15,039 condo units.

In a report presented to parliament last week, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi proudly predicted further rapid economic growth accompanied by a heavily reduced rate of inflation. The PM also said favourable conditions have been set for the conduct of elections which are peaceful, democratic and credible, as he warned opposition parties not to resort to illegal tactics. Opposition MPs derided the economic claims, suggesting the figures were unbelievable, and that even if they were accurate, the rewards have not reached the majority of the populace.

All cash deposits and withdrawals at banks exceeding 200,000 Br in local currency and 10,000 dollars or equivalent in other currencies are required to be reported to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), effective March 4, 2010, according to the Customer Due Diligence of Banks Directive.

chrisblattman.com - 1000 or more factories are producing leather shoes in Addis Ababa. Most of them employ only 10 workers or fewer, but several factories have hundreds of workers.

Ethiopia revoked the license of nine orphanages (charity organizations) who they claim to be involved in 'illegal' activities of child rights abuse, APA learns here on Wednesday.

APA - An Ethiopian professor at the department of Mass Commutations and Regional Political Problems at the Russian University of People’s Friendship, Dr Kinfu Zenebe Tafesse, said the political situation in many African countries, in many respects, remains complicated and unstable while the presence of the problems lingering on from colonial times, unresolved territorial issues, religious and ethnic crisis situations have compounded rapid development.

AFP - Ethiopia inaugurated a museum on Sunday in memory of the victims of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's so-called Red Terror purge which killed tens of thousands in the 1970s.

Ethiopia's parliament will pass new mining laws aimed at boosting investment in the sector by mid-2010, State Minister Sinknesh Ejigu said on Tuesday.