City to use public banks for service payments

The Addis Ababa City Administration is going to include private banks as optional financial service providers in its public service operation.
About two weeks ago the management of private banks and city administration talked at the mayor’s office of Addis Ababa City Administration on various issues, according to sources.
Sources told Capital that one of the area’s at the meeting held on July 22 that the private bank leaders raised was desiring the city administration to see possibilities of working with the private banks and the public financial firms, particularly the state giant Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).
In the evaluation meeting of the reforming process to improve the ease of doing business held July 23 at the Office of the Prime Minister Takele Uma (Eng), Mayor of Addis Ababa, who is member of the ease of doing business committee that was chaired by PM Abiy Ahmed and now transferred to Fetlework Gebreegziabher, Minister of Trade and Industry, stated that in the meeting with private bank leaders the issue of working as partnership was raised.
He said that the city administration wants to work with private banks on services like tax collection and other service payments under the city. However he claimed that the Federal Finance Administration Proclamation is a barrier that should be considered for the city or to be revised or give a mandate for the city administration to work with private banks.
Collection tax via financial firms is considered one of the ways to improve doing business in a given country and Ethiopia is expected to expand it and use a direct system in the settlement of the tax at the bank account instead of coming with a receipt or CPO.
Mid this week Takele told Capital that the city administration is working to include private banks in the payment system of services of the city administration.
“Our people are working to include them we understand that the federal proclamation would not be applicable to the city administration due to that we have started to include private banks,” he added.
Recently the city administration has transferred its municipality fees like water service and fines including traffic fines under CBE from the former operator Lehulu.
In the committee meeting Abiy has been advised National Bank of Ethiopia, whose governor is also member of the committee and on the committee meeting appreciated on its so far achievements to improve the easy of doing business, to see the way to use private banks on tax collections.