Ethiopia, Africa’s top coffee producer, is expected to export a record-high 240,000 metric tons of coffee in 2019/20, the U.S. Department of Agriculture attache in Addis Ababa said, as yields improve and the area dedicated to coffee farming increase.

Production of coffee is expected to rise to 7.35 million tonnes in 2019/20, an 1.4% increase from the 2018/19 season.

Exports account for just over half of overall production and are forecast to grow 0.5% in 2019/20 from the previous year to reach 4 million 60-kg bags. Coffee is Ethiopia’s most important export.

Exporters in the country are facing increased regulation, with the government banning several exporters in recent months for defaulting on their contracts and hoarding beans.

While supplies are greater this year thanks to higher yields due to better rains and the reduced prevalence of disease, the USDA’s forecasted yield of 0.82 tonnes per hectare comes in well below the government’s target of 1.1 tonnes per hectare, the report noted.

And production continues to face the broader threat of farmers switching to other crops.

“One of the major challenges the Ethiopian coffee sector is facing is that many coffee producers, mostly from the eastern part of the country are tearing out the coffee bushes and replacing them with khat, a plant with stimulant properties,” the USDA said.

Meanwhile, domestic demand in Africa’s top coffee consumer is expected to remain robust, with the USDA expecting Ethiopian consumption to rise by 2.4% in 2019/20 compared to 2018/19.

Ethiopia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) signed on June 18 a project document to support the upcoming national elections.

The agreement was signed by Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance, Birtukan Mideksa, Chairperson of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, and Mr Turhan Saleh Resident Representative of UNDP in Ethiopia.

The project is going to be implemented by the National Election Board of Ethiopia for the coming three years with the resource mobilized through UNDP.

The total required fund for the project is $40 million, out of that $34.6 million is a pledge to be funded by various development partners, $2 million is secured by UNDP itself and $3.3 million is to be mobilized during the project period.

The development partners that contribute for the project are 11 bilateral countries, of which 8 of them have confirmed their support.

The main objectives of the project are to assist the electoral management body to become more capable, transparent and trusted institution; and provide the required assistance for undertaking inclusive, transparent and credible elections.

The intervention areas of the project include institutional strengthening for ensuring transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness of the electoral operations, facilitating public outreach as well as stakeholder and media engagements; and capacitating the institution to identify, manage and respond to electoral violence.

The government believes that the support will have crucial contribution to underpin the auspicious steps that the new leadership is taking in order to flourish democracy based on mutual respect and trust.

The Dire Dawa with Dewale toll road, which became partly operational earlier this year, is expected to facilitate the export-import trade of Ethiopia. The upgrading of the previously gravel road into asphalt toll road has reduced the journey time from Dire Dawa to Dewele to four hours from ten hours.

The new road, which was built with a total government investment of 5.2 billion birr (about $ 180.5 million), is part of the express road linking Djibouti with Addis Ababa. The new express road is the second segment to be completed after the Addis Ababa – Adama Express road.

Ethiopia and Djibouti have been connected by the new Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway since last year. Before that, Djibouti and Ethiopia were had been connected by the – Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Éthiopien, which was inaugurated by Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik II in 1901.

Ethiopia and the World Bank signed a $500 million grant agreement on June 15. Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance, and Ms. Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance.

The grant will be used to finance the implementation of climate action through landscape management program, a program aimed at increasing adoption of sustainable land management practices and expanding access to secure land tenure in non-rangeland rural areas of the country.

The program is a 5-year sectoral budget support program with a results-based approach, according to the Ministry of Finance

It will support the government to scale up participatory watershed and land management activities in order to reduce land degradation and rural land tenure security.

The program will make consideration for the equitable inclusion of all beneficiaries in the watershed users associations, including vulnerable groups such as landless, youth, elderly, and female-headed households.

The program also provides a mechanism to incentivize the roll-out of institutional reforms for participatory watershed management and land administration.

About 50 percent of Ethiopia’s highlands are currently defined as degraded with declining productivity. It is costing the country about 2 to 3 percent of its annual agricultural GDP, she added.

According to Ms. Turk, investing in land resources is vital to build resilient and equitable economic growth, as well as protect all of the works done so far.

Ethiopia’s parliament approved a draft law that enables foreign companies to invest in the telecommunications industry of Africa’s second-most populous nation.

The legislation establishes an independent communications regulator, accountable to the prime minister, that will be responsible for promoting competition.

Lawmakers on June 13 “approved into law the Ethiopian Communication Regulatory Proclamation,” Innovation and Technology Minister Getahun Mekuria said in a tweet. “This is a huge step in reforming the telecom sector.”

The legislation is the latest in a series of sweeping reforms Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has implemented since he became leader in April 2018, as he seeks to loosen state control of the economy. He’s pledged to split the government-owned monopoly, Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp., and sell shares in the two new entities piecemeal to international operators.

Ethiopia offers a rare opportunity for foreign investors to access one of the continent’s biggest markets. With one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies and more than 100 million people, it’s coveted by firms including MTN Group Ltd. and Vodacom Group Ltd., the continent’s largest mobile-phone companies.

Some of the companies that have already shown interest in getting in the Ethiopian Telecom space include:

• Vodafone Group – Britain
• MTN Group – South Africa
• Etisalat – United Arab Emirates
• Orange – France
• Zain – Kuwait
• Safaricom – Kenya

Sudanese parties have agreed to uphold previous agreements regarding the structures, powers and responsibilities of the transitional government, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on June 12.

The agreement came following the discussion between Ethiopia’s Special Envoy to Sudan, Mohamoud Dirir, with various Sudanese parties with the objective of seeking peaceful resolution of the political situation in the Sudan.

According to the ministry, following the discussions with Ethiopia’s special envoy to Sudan, representatives of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and the Forces for Freedom and Change “have agreed to uphold what they have agreed upon before the suspension of the negotiation, regarding the Structures, Powers and Responsibilities of the Transitional Government.”

The ministry also said that as per the agreement reached, “talks will resume soon in good-faith to iron-out the remaining outstanding points, including the Sovereign Council and other relevant matters.”

The two sides have also “agreed to refrain from inflammatory statements and de-escalate tensions,” according to the ministry.

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council has also agreed to take confidence-building measures including the release of political prisoners.

The Forces for Freedom and Change also “agreed to call-off the civil-disobedience.”

The agreement came after Ethiopia’s special envoy’s “fruitful discussions with General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, Chairman of the TMC, all the members of the TMC, and with representatives of the Forces for Freedom and Change,” according to the ministry.

Ethiopia’s special envoy had also exchanged views with the other Sudanese political groups and personalities.

Dirir was appointed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as his special envoy following his visit to Sudan on June 7 to shuttle between the two sides to assist the parties to resume their talks in good faith and in the spirit of ironing out the remaining sticking points of previously started discussions and negotiations.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is now offering mortgage loans to Ethiopians living abroad and foreigners of Ethiopian origin.

Click on the link below to learn more about the offer and access the application form.

Ethiopia’s finance minister Ahmed Shide proposed to parliament on Tuesday 386.9 billion birr ($13.5 billion) in government spending national budget for the next Ethiopian fiscal year which begins on July 8, 2019, which is 12% higher than 2018/19’s 346.9 billion birr figure ($12.8 billion at the exchange rate of that time)

Ethiopia’s economy is projected to grow by 9% in 2019/2020; Minister Ahmed Shide told lawmakers on June 10 as he presented plans to raise spending.

Out of the total, 130.7 billion birr ($4.5 billion) will be used as capital budget while some 140 billion birr (around $4.9 billion) will go to regions as budget support, according to the budget approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Council has also approved some 109 billion birr as recurrent budget Over 6 billion birr is also allocated for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. After the Council of Ministers has approved the budget it has passed it to the Ethiopian Parliament for final endorsement.

In the 2017/18 budget year, Ethiopia’s budget deficit was estimated to reach 3.7 percent of its GDP. For the current fiscal year (2018/19) Ethiopia economy is expected to grow by 8.5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2018, the IMF estimated Ethiopia’s total GDP at then market prices to reach 2.6 trillion birr (about $90 billion) in the current fiscal year. The IMF forecast (IMF Country Report No. 18/354) shows that in five years, Ethiopia’s GDP should reach 4.7 trillion birr.

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was in the northern Tigray region yesterday, where he held a series of meetings with stakeholders over a wide range of issues.

One of his main engagements had to do with efforts aimed at saving the historic obelisk located in the city of Axum. He visited the endangered obelisk of Axum to get first-hand information about its status. Following this visit, Prime Minister Abiy held discussions with the residents of Axum.

During the discussion, members of the community appreciated the Prime Minister’s understanding and responsiveness to their call.

The residents raised various issues during the discussion with the Prime Minister, including the fate of the Axum obelisk.

Besides, the Prime Minister addressed key queries raised regarding budgetary allocations, water shortages, infrastructure requirements, peace and security, and other issues. The Premier pledged to work in collaboration with stakeholders to protect the Axum obelisks.

The Axum Obelisk, probably carved and erected during the 4th century A.D, is a testament to Ethiopia’s historic civilizations. Ethiopia fought for years for the monument to be returned from Italy after it was taken away by Italian invaders. Abiy’s move is the latest in a series of efforts that saw the Minister of Tourism also visit the site last month.

Portions of the obelisk have collapsed to the ground whiles reports indicate that their foundations also remained weakened and in dire need of rehabilitation to arrest further deterioration.

A signing ceremony of a loan and grant agreements took place on June 6 at the Ministry of Finance between Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian Minister of Finance, Mr. Ignace Monkam-Daverat, the French Agency for Development (AFD) Country Director and Frederic Bontems, Ambassador of France to Ethiopia and to the African Union.

This support is the result of the joint declaration of intent signed between AFD and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron in Ethiopia on March 12^th, 2019.

Through these two agreements, a 100 million euros financing has been provided by AFD to support Ethiopia’s implementation of its ambitious economic reforms. Among this financing, 85 million is provided through a Public Policy concessional loan, and 15 million is provided as a grant for the global technical assistance program.

The Public Policy Loan will aim to support the Government of Ethiopia in the implementation of GTP II economic reforms by focusing on maximizing finance for development, improving the business environment, and improving the management, transparency, and accountability of public enterprises. It will be complementary to the World Bank Ethiopian Growth and Competitiveness Development Policy Financing (DPF).

This Public Policy Loan will be coupled with a grant-funded technical assistance program that would support key reform actors such as the Ministry of Finance, the PPP Directorate General and the Public Enterprise Holding Administration Agency. Part of this technical assistance program will be directly implemented by the Ethiopian Government, while another part will be channeled through Expertise France, the French public agency for international technical assistance, and as a contribution to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is the French bilateral development bank, which has been working for more than 70 years implementing French development-aid policy.