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embassy news

የኮሮናቫይረስ ወረርሽኝ በምጣኔ-ሀብት ላይ የሚያስከትለውን አሉታዊ ጫና የሚቀንሱ የፖሊሲ ውሳኔዎች ተላልፏል

መንግስት የኮሮናቫይረስ (ኮቪድ-19) ወረርሽኝ በኢትዮጵያ ምጣኔ-ሃብት ላይ የሚያስከትለውን አሉታዊ ጫና ለመቀነስ ያስችላሉ ያላቸውን የተለያዩ የፖሊሲ ውሳኔዎች ማሳለፉን የገንዘብ ሚኒስትር ዴኤታ ዶክተር ኢዮብ ተካልኝ ገለጹ።

ውሳኔዎቹ ከውዝፍ የግብር እዳ ጋር የተገናኙ የዜጎችን ኑሮ መታደግ ላይ ያተኮሩ ናቸው ተብሏል።

የገንዘብ ሚኒስትር ዴኤታ ኢዮብ ተካልኝ እንዳሉት፤ የኮቪድ-19 ወረርሽኝ በተለይ ዝቅተኛ ገቢ ያላቸው ዜጎች ላይ የከፋ ጉዳት እንዳያደርስ መንግስትና ህብረተሰቡ ርብርብ እያደረገ ነው።

መንግስት ቀደም ሲል ወረርሽኙ በምጣኔ-ሃብት ላይ የሚያደርሰውን ጫና ለመቀነስ በተለይ በወጪ ንግድና በአገልግሎት ዘርፍ ለተሰማሩ ተቋማት ባንኮች አስፈላጊውን የብድር ሽግሽግና ተጨማሪ ብድር እንዲያቀርቡ ማድረጋቸውን አስታውቀዋል።

”በአሁኑ ጊዜም ለወረርሽኙ ተጋላጭ የሆኑ ተቋማት ጉዳታቸው እየሰፋ እንዳይሄድ ተጨማሪ የኢኮኖሚ እርጃዎችን መውሰድ አስልፈጓል” ነው ያሉት።

የኢኮኖሚውን መቀዛቀዝ ተከትሎ በቢዝነስ ተቋማት ላይ ያለውን ጉዳት ለመቀነስ የሚኒስትሮች ምክር ቤት ባለ 15 ነጥብ የፖሊሲ ውሳኔዎችን ማሳለፉንም ገልጸዋል።
በዚህ መሰረት የፌዴራል መንግስት ከ1997 እስከ 2007 ዓ.ም ውዝፍ የግብር ዕዳ ላለባቸው የቢዝነስ ተቋማት ስረዛ አድርጓል።

ግብር ከፍለው የኦዲት ግኝት የተገኘባቸው ተቋማትም ውዝፍ የኦዲት ግኝታቸውን ውሳኔው ከተላለፈበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ በአንድ ወር ውስጥ ፍሬ ግብሩን በሚቀመጠው የጊዜ ሰሌዳ ከፍለው እንዲጨርሱ ተወስኗል።

”የፍሬ ግብራቸውን 25 በመቶ በመጀመሪያ በመክፈል ቀሪውን በተሰጣቸው ጊዜ ለሚከፍሉ ተቋማት የግብር ቅጣትና ወለድ ይነሳላቸዋል” ብለዋል።

ሙሉ የፍሬ ግብሩን በአንድ ጊዜ የሚከፍሉ ተቋማትም የአስር በመቶ ቅናሽ እንደሚደረግላቸው የገለጹት ሚኒስትር ዴኤታው፤ ውሳኔውን ለማስፈጸም ገንዘብ ሚኒስቴርና የገቢዎች ሚኒስቴር ዝርዝር መመሪያ እያዘጋጁ መሆኑን ጠቁዋል።

”ከኦዲት ግኝትና ከውዝፍ ጋር ተያይዞ በፍርድ ሂደት ላይ ያሉ ተቋማትም ፍሬ
ግብራቸውን ከፍለው ከክርክር መውጣት እንደሚችሉና ይህ ግን በግብር ከፋዮቹ ፈቃደኝነት ሚሰወሰን ነው” ብለዋል።

በሌላ በኩል ወረርሽኙን ምክንያት በማድረግ ለተከራዮቻቸው የቤት ኪራይ እፎይታ ለሰጡ ግለሰቦችና ተቋማት የኪራይ ገቢ ግብር ስረዛ አድርጓል።

”ይህ ውሳኔ ተቋማቱን ማመስገንና ሌሎችን ለማበረታታት ነው” ብለዋል።

በገቢ መቀዛቀዝ ምክንያት ለሰራተኞቻቸው ደመወዝ መክፈል ያልቻሉ ተቋማትን ለማገዝም ተቋማቱ ለሰራተኞች የሚከፍሉትን የአራት ወር የደመወዝ ግብር አስቀርተው ለሰራተኞች ደመወዝ ክፍያ እንዲያውሉት ውሳኔ ተላልፏል።

የፖሊሲ ውሳኔው የግል ከፍተኛ ትምህርት ተቋማት፣ ጤና ተቋማትና የተለያዩ ቢዝነስ ላይ የተሰማሩ ድርጅቶችን ያጠቃልላል ነው የተባለው።

መንግስት ይሄን የወሰነው በወረርሽኙ ምክንያት የተፈጠረውን የኢኮኖሚ መቀዛቀዝ ለማነቃቃት ተቋማቱ ሰራተኞቻቸውን ሳይበትኑ ስራቸውን መስራት እንዲችሉ ለማገዝ እንደሆነም ዶክተር ኢዮብ መግለፃቸውን ኢዜአ ዘግቧል።

House Begins Regular Session

The House of Peoples Representatives (parliament) is currently holding its regular session at the Prime Minister office’s meeting hall.

Members of the House are expected to pass various decisions after deliberating on five agendas, including a resolution tabled by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to postpone the upcoming election.

The House is expected to approve the resolution and direct it to the respective standing committee for further scrutiny.

The House is also expected to approve a loan agreement signed with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) for the implementation of the second phase national water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program.

Ethiopia Confirms Four More COVID-19 Cases

Ethiopia has reported four new cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19), out of 766 samples taken over the past 24 hours.

All the confirmed cases are Ethiopian nationals, according to the Ministry of Health.

Three of them came from Puntland and they were in Jigjiga University mandatory quarantine, it added.

Eight more people have also recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 58.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has now reached 126. Fatalities remain at 3, with overall test count stands at 16, 434.

Ethiopian Parliament To Meet Tomorrow

The House of Peoples Representatives (parliament) will hold its regular session tomorrow.

During its meeting, the House will deliberate on five agendas, including the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia’s resolution postponing the general election.

It is also expected to approve loan agreements signed with various global financial institutions.

Gov’t, Competing Parties Discuss Postponed Election

PM Dr Abiy Ahmed has met heads of competing political parties to discuss postponed national election schedule and legal options.

The government has put forward four options in connection with the election postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The election was originally planned for August 29, 2020.

Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Gedion Timotiwos, presented the four options proposed by the government to address issues related the elections.

The options are:

1. Dissolving the House of Peoples Representatives (Parliament)

2. Declaring State of Emergency

3. Constitutional amendment, and

4. Claiming Constitutional interpretations

President Sahle-Work Joins ‘Rise For All’ Initiative

Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde has joined “Rise for All”, a new initiative that brought together women leaders to mobilize support for the UN Recovery Trust Fund and the UN roadmap for social and economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic.

The first to join the initiative are President Sahle-Work Zewde, Norwegian PM Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, and other Executive Directors of UN agencies.

“Rise for All” is the United Nations Secretary-General’s initiative which calls for solidarity and urgent action in response to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19.

In her remarks, the President said “This is a global crisis. Delay in action means death. We all face the same enemy and we stand to gain by bringing the full force of humanity together to fight it. There cannot be victory over the virus in one, or some countries alone. … I stand in support of the United Nations Secretary General’s appeal for solidarity.”

The Fund aims to mobilize $1 billion over the first nine months, and $2 billion over two years, to support low-and middle-income countries, including Small Island Developing States and vulnerable groups such as women and children who are disproportionately bearing the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.

The Netherlands yesterday announced an initial contribution of $16.6 million to the Fund, following in the footsteps of Norway and Denmark, who have thus far pledged $14.1 million and $7.3 million, respectively.

Over the coming weeks, more women leaders, including from the political, multilateral, and business sectors, are expected to join the initiative.

“Team Europe” Pledges Strong Support To Ethiopia’s COVID19 Response

“Team Europe” has expressed its commitment to strongly support Ethiopia in its coronavirus (COVID19) response.

It has already provided €25 million as a rapid response to the Ethiopian health sector, out of the initial €200 million for 2020.

“Team Europe” is an initiative launched by the European Union (EU) and the Member States to support partner countries around the world with €20 billion to fight the COVID19 outbreak.

“Team Europe” package has the aim of supporting the most vulnerable countries and people most at risk, in the EU’s neighbourhood, with special emphasis on Africa, and also in the Pacific, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The package combines resources from existing programmes (some €11 bn), plus support from financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (€5 bn), and from EU Member States (€4bn).

Council Of Ministers Passes Various Decisions

In its 19th urgent session held on Saturday, April 24, the Council of Ministers, has passed decisions after deliberating on various issues.

Among the issues discussed by the Council include measures that should be taken to address the threat posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to the country’s economy.

The Council first discussed a resolution tabled by the Ministry of Finance to reduce the impact of the outbreak on businesses and exporters as well as to enable employers to keep their workers on the payroll.

After making a few adjustments, the Council decided the resolution to enter into force.

The Council also decided on the emergency law implementation rules that require a 20% tax cut and other related measures for taxpayers, among others, to enter into force.

It also approved the loan agreements signed with various countries and financiers.

Ethiopia Reports Two COVID-19 Cases

Ethiopia has confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 out of the 1080 samples tested over the past 24 hours.

The two confirmed cases are British nationals, including a four-year-old boy, who came from the UK and were in mandatory quarantine.

The total number of confirmed cases in Ethiopia now is 126. Fatalities remain at 3, with overall test count stands at 15, 668.

About 50 people have also recovered from the virus.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed more than 3 million, with more than 211,000 deaths and more than 925,000 recoveries.

Ministry Adopts Tourism Recovery Strategy

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has adopted a national tourism recovery strategy to help the industry cope with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dr. Hirut said the strategy is amid at mitigating the impact of the pandemic in the tourism industry of the nation.

The strategy was referred to different stakeholders for discussion, and incorporated recommendations of the tourism committee and regional offices, she noted.

The strategy helps international tourists to adjust their visit plans to Ethiopia, and have clear view of tourist destinations after the novel coronavirus is contained at the global level, Dr Hirut said that the strategy is adopted in compliance with recovery measures recommended by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to mitigate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in the world tourism economy.