By our staff reporter

The 2023 Human Freedom Index had just been released, shedding light on the state of freedom in various countries around the world.

Among the 45 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia stood at the 39th position in terms of human freedom. While this ranking may not have been the highest, it was a reflection of the country’s progress and challenges in ensuring personal and economic freedom for its citizens.

Zooming out to a global perspective, Ethiopia found itself at the 148th position among 165 countries worldwide. The nation had slipped one place since the previous index in 2021, indicating a slight decline in its overall score. However, Ethiopia was not alone in facing such challenges. Somalia and Sudan, two neighboring countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, were ranked at the bottom of the list, highlighting the significant work needed to enhance freedom in those regions. On a global scale, Yemen and Syria occupied the last positions, indicating the dire state of affairs in those countries.

But what exactly did the Human Freedom Index measure? It aimed to present a comprehensive evaluation of human freedom by assessing the absence of coercive constraints on individuals. The index utilized 86 distinct indicators to gauge both personal and economic freedom. These indicators covered a wide range of areas, including the rule of law, security, movement, religion, association, assembly, civil society, expression, information, relationships, size of government, legal system, property rights, sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation.

The Human Freedom Index was a vital tool in understanding the state of freedom globally. It encompassed 165 jurisdictions, representing an impressive 98.8 percent of the world’s population. The index had been tracking and ranking countries for over two decades, starting from the year 2000 when it first became feasible to create a robust and meaningful index.

Sadly, the executive summary of the 2023 index revealed a distressing trend. Human freedom had experienced a severe deterioration in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost all areas of freedom had suffered, witnessing significant declines. The rule of law, freedom of movement, expression, association, and assembly, as well as the freedom to trade, were particularly affected.

This decline was not an isolated event. Even in the previous year, 2020, human freedom had experienced a substantial fall. The challenges brought about by the pandemic had further compounded the situation, leaving freedom at a persistently low level.

As the world grappled with the consequences of the pandemic, Ethiopia and other countries faced the immense task of restoring and safeguarding freedom for their citizens. It was a reminder of the ongoing struggle to ensure that individuals could enjoy their rights and liberties to the fullest extent, irrespective of the challenges that lay ahead.

Ethio Telecom discloses that 3.6 million people have received loans through its digital financial services.

The telecommunications firm announced that it has provided credit services to more than 3.6 million customers through its digital financial services platform it has in tandem with Dashen Bank and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

The institution has recently launched a “Digital Finance Market” Solution where banks, microfinance, insurance and other institutions in the sector can use their technological capabilities to make their services accessible.

With this built platform, financial services have now been made available to more than 40 million Tele Birr customers.

According to the company, the ‘Digital Financial Marketplace’ is a solution that allows financial institutions to offer their microfinance services such as credit, savings and insurance services to their customers using the Unified Digital Financial Marketplace option, and allows customers to use their mobile phones from wherever they are. The service is based on a loan formula that takes into account the customer’s credit activities and timely repayment experience and uses artificial intelligence, so it is possible to provide loan services without collateral.

In addition, the company implemented the (Digital Share Sell/Buy) platform, which is an opportunity for licensed business institutions to digitize their stock purchase and sale process in a cost-effective manner and make their shares widely and easily accessible to the community.

In the past, Ethio telecom has introduced digital services such as smart education, smart agriculture, smart water and energy, as well as providing modular and cloud data center services that allow the country’s banks to focus on their core mission without having to build their own data centers.

By Eyasu Zekarias

In the face of various challenges that have affected Ethiopia’s banking industry over the past three years, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in the north, and breaches of international security, the sector has faced negative repercussions. These issues have also had an impact on remittances from abroad.

Despite these difficulties, Bunna Bank has demonstrated growth and met its planned targets, as outlined in a recent report. The widening gap between the black market and official exchange rates has significantly affected foreign currency collection, but the bank has managed to navigate these challenges successfully.

According to Ambassador Alemayehu Sewagene, Chairman of the bank’s board of directors, Bunna Bank achieved a pre-tax profit of 1.36 billion birr in the last fiscal year. The bank’s growth in this period was driven by interest income, accounting for 84.1 percent, with the remaining 15.9 percent derived from non-interest services.

Ambassador Sewagene also noted that the bank’s total assets reached 46.4 billion birr during the last fiscal year. Additionally, the bank obtained 175.7 million US dollars in foreign currency.

Bunna Bank recently held its 14th regular general meeting of shareholders on November 30, 2023. At the meeting, it was reported that the bank achieved a pre-tax profit of 1.35 billion birr and gathered deposits exceeding 36.59 billion birr by the end of the fiscal year.

The report highlighted a significant increase in deposits compared to the previous year, with an additional 9.4 billion birr collected during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2023. Consequently, the bank’s total deposits grew by 34.6 percent, reaching 36.6 billion birr, with savings account deposits comprising the largest share at 73.3 percent.

During his speech at the meeting, the Chairman of the bank’s board of directors emphasized that Bunna Bank managed to withstand the economic slowdown caused by internal peace and security challenges, as well as the volatile foreign currency exchange rates in the black market. The bank’s profitability and overall performance surpassed the previous year, providing encouragement to shareholders and employees.

The report further revealed that Bunna Bank extended loans amounting to 8.92 billion birr to various sectors of the economy, representing a 34.5 percent increase compared to the previous year. The decline in remittances and a slowdown in exports due to global and national issues negatively impacted the bank’s foreign exchange earnings. Export trade accounted for 55.5 percent of these earnings.

Moreover, the report indicated that the bank has established direct relationships with foreign money transfer organizations. Additionally, the bank’s total assets grew by 12.29 billion birr, reaching 46.39 billion birr during the fiscal year.

The bank’s capital increased by 1.5 billion birr, bringing the total capital to 6.5 billion birr, as stated in the report presented by the chairman of the board of directors.

Bunna Bank successfully attracted an additional 1,089,400 deposit account customers in the current financial year, representing a growth rate of 55.6 percent. This achievement increased the bank’s total number of customers to 3,050,253 by the end of the financial year.

The report also highlighted an increase in the number of mobile and internet banking users, contributing to a total transaction volume exceeding 10.6 billion birr.

Furthermore, the report mentioned Bunna Bank’s effective implementation of interest-free banking services through a dedicated account called “KHADIM,” which has its own unique identity and business name. This initiative has resulted in deposits obtained through interest-free banking services totaling 1.63 billion birr.

By Eyasu Zekarias

Ethiopia gears to officially join BRICS in January 2024, with hopes and concerns equally running high.

As Dr. Degye Goshu, Director of Research and Policy Analysis of the Ethiopia Economic Association (EEA) highlights, it is necessary to create a governance and financial system for Ethiopia with BRICS members, owing to the low level of trust in the current National Bank.

“Ethiopia’s voting power in the World Bank is less than 1 percent, and it is difficult to get the expected benefit if there is no comparable or equal financial system in BRICS,” Dr. Degye pointed out.

Recently, economic experts within the EEA, posed the question, “Does Ethiopia benefit from joining the BRICS?” As, reviewed, the simple answer was yes but as from the broad spectrum of analysis of 233 economic experts’ survey, Ethiopia is noted to have wanted to join BRICS because of political and economic sanctions.

As the report showcased, 49 percent of economic experts believe that Ethiopia joined BRICS because of political and economic sanctions. Among the 233 economic experts who conducted the study, 47 percent believed that emerging economy, 45% geopolitical, 41% deteriorating foreign relation with the west and 39% shortage of forex as the reasons why the country wanted to join BRICS.

According to the EEA, there is no clear criteria why BRICS accepted the newly joined countries.

Reducing the supremacy of the dollar, and allowing BRICS members to be able to trade in their own local currency is said to create a paradigm shift in the economy. To this end, from the survey, 61 percent of experts gave their opinion that BRICS can eliminate the dollar.

BRICS whose current members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, will in the New Year 2024, include Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.   

According to PM Abiy Ahmed this is a pivotal move for the country.

Nonetheless, economic experts have expressed concerns that it will be difficult for Ethiopia to get out of its current political, economic and social problems in alignment to the objectives of BRICS.

Some of the issues raised in form of percentages from the pool of survey was: 52% citing conflict of political interest, 51% citing limited financial capacity of the BRICS, while 27% spotted governance problem in BRICS.

It is widely argued that Ethiopia’s official joining of the BRICS group will increase its economic potential in the Horn of Africa and enable it to implement the 2063 African Development Agenda and the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).