By Ruth Brook
The Office of the Prime Minister announced the implementation of an independent national Council of Economic Advisors that will ensure the continuity of the existing economic reform and improve transparency of economic policy in Ethiopia. The announcement, made on December 31st 2019, stated that the Council is expected to “promote inclusive economic development”.
The Council will comprise of 15 members “of high caliber” with expertise on the Ethiopian economy and socio-political matters. The introduction of this council follows the recent establishment of the homegrown economic reform, members assuming the advisory role are to ensure the success of the reform as well as regularly provide the government with “evidence-based policy advice”, stated Tuesday’s press release.
Applicants are required to be Ethiopian or of Ethiopian origin. The government is calling for a Council that will mirror Ethiopia’s diversity with regards to background, gender, profession and other areas.
Employing transparency in the application process, the government is inviting qualified and interested individuals to submit their applications via email at policyunit@pmo.gov.et, 15 days from the day of the announcement, the release concluded.
Capital reached out to the Office of the Prime Minister for further information on the Council but was not provided the information.
PM Office introducing Council of Economic Advisors
Digital partnership between Ethiopian Airlines and Abay Bank to facilitate ticket purchasing
By Ruth Brook
A new digital payment option has been made available for Ethiopian Airlines passengers after a recent partnership between the airline and Abay Bank. The enhanced payment method allows customers to purchase tickets on the Ethiopian Airlines app using mobile banking with Abay Bank, adding to the existing digital payment options on the Airlines’ e-commerce platform.
This partnership aims to catalyze and facilitate the ticket purchasing process for customers; cutting out the middle man, customers can purchase their tickets on the Ethiopian Airlines app at their leisure using the Bank’s mobile banking service code *812# or at any Abay Bank branch offices.
Although inaugurated on December 31st 2019, the partnership has been operational for one week, already seeing 1 million birr worth of tickets purchased in that time, explained Belete Dagnew, Vice President of Abay Bank, Corporate Service.
The recent union of the two companies’ ties in with Abay Bank’s vision of continuous investment in their banking services. Given the technology age, Abay Bank have invested 150 million birr in expanding their core banking system, which will be realized in the coming 6 months said the Vice President.
Abay Bank customers also have the option of paying their post-paid phone bills as well as water and electricity bills using the bank’s online services. Digital banking users make up 38% of Abay Bank’s customers, totaling 250,000 users.
The user friendly airline app accounts for 44% of the airlines domestic online sales, it was revealed in an Ethiopian Airlines press release. The app offers 6 international and 13 local payment options and is available in 3 local languages, Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrinya.
Debub Global Bank doubles profits
Debub Global Bank (DGB) registers significant growth in the past financial year in various aspects with almost double achievements.
The bank, one of the youngest financial firms, has doubled its gross profit for the 2018/19 financial year compared with the 2017/18. According to the annual report the gross profit before tax for the year stood at 284 million birr that was 142 million birr a year ago.
The profit after tax has also almost doubled and climbed to 211 million birr that was 107 million birr in the 2017/18 financial year.
The earning per share (EPS) of DGB has also boosted by 147 percent and stood at 32.3 percent per share. The EPS for the year by every 1,000 birr worth share has stood at 323 birr, which was 210 million birr in the preceding year.
In the year the bank has been also achieved significant growth on total revenue. For the year the total revenue of the bank has increased by 65 percent compared with a year ago performance. According to the annual financial report of Debub Global, the net operating income for the year has been 533 million birr that was 330 million birr in the preceding year.
In the year the deposit mobilization has also registered an increase of 64 percent from the previous year with net increase that accounts 83 percent of the past four years net mobilization, the total deposit of the bank has reached 3.5 billion.
This all time high net increase is spearheaded by savings and demand deposits, which are 90 percent of the new collection.
The bank report indicated that the total number of depositors has reached more than 134,000 at the end of the financial year, which end June 30, and the growth rate was 47 percent, while 94 percent of the total customers are saving account holders.
Debub’s total loans and advances have reached 2.45 billion birr at the end of the year and the total lending has climbed by 55 percent from the prior year.
At the same time Debub Global has been able to maintain its non-preforming loans at 1.64 percent, lower than the regulatory limit of 5 percent.
They now have 549 million birr in assets, from 326 million birr in the 2017/18 financial year.
One of the best achievements for the bank has been securing significant about of foreign currency on its international banking business. The report stated that for the year the bank has earned USD 117 million worth of foreign currency with 159 percent increase compared with a year ago performance.
At the end of the financial year its paid up capital has also grown by 142 million birr, a growth rate of 25 percent and brought the total standing to 722 million birr.
Zemen doubles profit
Zemen Bank ended an astonishing financial year by achieving 86 percent higher profit besides 39 percent higher revenue compared with the preceding year.
The bank’s 32-story head quarter building will also be finalized in August 2020.
The financial firm that joined the market by introducing new businesses scheme has registered several extraordinary achievements in the 2018/19 financial year.
The financial report of Zemen indicated that in the stated period it has generated close to 1.6 billion birr revenue that has an increment of 6 percent compared with the target. The revenue generation has also climbed by 39 percent compared with the performance of 2017/18 financial year, which was about 1.1 billion birr.
From the total revenue generated over one billion birr came from interest and 568 million birr came from international banking and other operations.
The bank also managed to earn 636 million birr gross profit with remarkable growth rate for the sector. A year ago its gross profit stood at 342 million birr.
At the same time the gross profit is also 55 percent higher when compared with the target set by the bank.
The net profit after tax has also increased to 490 million birr from 270 million birr a year ago. The bank also disbursed higher earnings per share (EPS) for the year compared with the preceding year. For the year the bank EPS reached 39.8 percent per share.
Improvement on loan and advance besides high performance on operation and services that it provides were key areas for the higher performance.
The report stated that the bank achieved consistent growth in key operational areas including deposit mobilization, loans and advances and foreign exchange funds.
In the stated period the bank has disbursed close to 2.6 billion birr in loans and advances that climbed the bank’s total lending book to close to 7.8 billion birr.
At the same time the despot mobilization has also increased by 13 percent and reached at 11.6 billion birr during the 2018/19 financial year.
For the year the bank has been earned USD 371.1 million form international banking that makes the bank one of the financial institutions that secured huge foreign currency on the stated period.
The bank’s asset has shoot up to 14.7 billion birr with the increment of 2.2 billion birr or 18 percent compared with the 2017/18 performance.
According to the statement of the bank, the paid up capital of Zemen has reached 1.4 billion birr that was 1.1 billion birr in the previous year.
Zemen is one of the late comers in the industry but is already on the final stage to get a sky scraper head quarter at the ‘financial district’ located at the heart of Addis Ababa around the central bank.
The head quarter project rests on a 2,300 square meter and the total area is 4,560 square meters. The head office has 32 floors with three underground floors for parking that shall accommodate 200 cars.
Currently the project is on the final stage according to the bank report, while the finishing work is being done aggressively to finalize the project by August 2020.
