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Doraleh Container marks anniversary

Muluken Yewondwossen
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Doraleh Container marks anniversary

The Doraleh Container Terminal Management Company (SGTD) has celebrated the first anniversary of controlling the container terminal in Djibouti by announcing that it has registered massive improvements with regard to port handling when compared with the previous management.
During the first year anniversary, celebrated at Sheraton Addis at a gala dinner ceremony, Abdillahi Adaweh, CEO of SGTD, announced that several improvements in container handling and fleets will take place in the coming months to make the port even more compatible with international standards.

Photo: Anteneh Aklilu

The anniversary attended by government officials of Ethiopia and representatives from Djibouti including the Djibouti diplomatic community here said this is a great thing for both countries.
“We have decided to celebrate our first anniversary with our first customer in Ethiopia,” Abdillahi Adaweh, said that the celebration.
“After the audit assessment was undertaken when we took control of the company the major challenge was to cope with the customer needs. Then we discovered there were some constrains like equipment and space and we had to work hard to find short, middle and long term solutions and we are working on it but we are already in far away better shape than one year ago,” the CEO said.
On February 22nd 2018 the government of Djibouti annulled the management agreement with DP World at the Doraleh Container Terminal, which is managed by two thirds of the government and the balance by the company.
According to the presentation of the CEO the company has registered several improved performances regarding handling of containers every month.
“From September up to now we are far higher than what was the former operator was doing. Even in February, which is the low season, we achieved 35 percent more than a year ago performance,” he said.
“In general we have registered 45 percent higher than a year ago,” he added.
He said that the movement of import containers is going well.
According to the presentation of the CEO the export of full container has reached over 7 thousand in one month, which was not registered in the past season of the former manager a year ago.
Regarding export full containers improve volume by increasing the quota of stuffing, which was limited, from 200 to 300 per day when possible and request the shipping lines to load as soon as possible. “Now there is not limitation on stuffing on the container at the port,” Abdillahi Adaweh said.

Photo: Anteneh Aklilu

The CEO said that the export of empty container has reached on maximum level in the year. The presentation indicates that the empty container export volume in October is over 29 thousand, which is not registered compared with a year ago performance.
The CEO indicated that the number of vessels has gone down in the period compared with a year ago, which is a good a news since the port is handling big ships that has lower unitary cost for customer than using medium vessels.
The presentation indicated that the number of vessels has been reduced by 16 percent compared with a year ago.
The berth movement per hour has also significantly increased in the past one year and reached up to 78 containers that were 59. “This factor is the main important and impacting factor for the shipping line and their cost in the terminal-SGTD target is to reach the highest international level of 100 moves per hour by the fourth quarter of 2019,”
The number of cargo stay days has also been improving, according to the CEO.
The CEO indicated that several improvements including adding storage yards and handling of cargo to the fleet to Ethiopia will occur. The rail fleet is promising and should accelerate the rate of moving containers from or to Ethiopia.
He also said they have added 3 reach stackers to support train activity. He added that new RTG, which is a mobile gantry crane used in intermodal operations to ground or stack containers, will be also added in April to accelerate the activity at the port, while an additional 8 RTG will arrive in September to replace the old RTGs and boost the rail activity another 2 RTG will start operation in the forth quarter of 2019.

Ethiopian takes delivery of B737-800 freighter

Staff Reporter
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Ethiopian takes delivery of B737-800 freighter

Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its first B737-800 freighter, the first of its kind in the Ethiopian Cargo fleet mix, on March 01, 2019. Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam during the event said “We are excited to have taken delivery of the newest freighter a few days after being crowned with ‘African Cargo Airline of the Year’ and ‘Air Cargo Brand of the Year in Africa’ Awards for the fourth year in a row. The arrival of this new freighter is a significant addition and propels both our capacity and frequency. The B-737-800 Freighter will give us a new capability to serve short haul destinations in Africa and the Middle East more economically which includes the export of Ethiopian meat, fruits and vegetables to the Gulf Region. As per our strategic roadmap, Vision 2025, we will keep introducing new systems and technologies and play an indispensable role to the socio-economic development of Ethiopia and Africa at large.”
Developed with the industry’s most efficient and reliable technology, the new B737-800 freighter aircraft is the newest member of the freighter family and offers greatest efficiency for the standard-body freighter market. The freighter has a carrying capacity of more than 23 metric tons of payload with excellent operating economics to maximize efficiency for cargo operations. Operating ten next generation dedicated freighters and with Africa’s largest transshipment terminal, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services delivers cargo services spanning across 44 international destinations in Africa, the Gulf, Middle East, Asia, the Americas and Europe, augmenting the export of perishables from Africa and import of high value goods.

As focus turns to large scale tax fraud, City drops 1,780 tax cases

admin
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The Addis Ababa City Administration Revenue Bureau (AARB) plans on dropping tax related charges against 1,780 taxpayers. The Authority tabled the decision to the Vice Mayor Takele Uma. It also recommended lifting tax claims by the Administration against 4,041 taxpayers. The Mayor asked for specific data on the status of the 1,780 cases. His decision is pending.
The Authority communicated with 10 Sub-city Police heads and the city administration police who handle tax cases.
The cases normally would be investigated by police, and then sent to the Attorney General, according to Tamerat Negusse, the deputy director of the Authority.
“There is going to be a legal procedure finalized before we ask for charges to be dropped, and now we are categorizing the data which will help us make a final decision,” he told Capital. “But we will strictly implement this looking into the gravity of the cases. For example, did they sell a cup of tea without a receipt or did they forge 100-thousand-birr worth of receipts.”
Five sub-cities submitted the data to the authority and more is expected this week.
The decision may suspend ongoing trials or release others from prison. Some files will be presented for a presidential pardon if those in prison applied for it.
According to the Deputy Director, the Administration is taking into consideration the previous law enforcement method of targeting small taxpayers but leaving the huge ones free. The City administration wants to change that narrative.
“Focusing on the bigger ones is a no brainer as the damage they create affects the entire tax system,” said Tamrat. “If the wholesaler doesn’t give the retailers receipts how can we expect them to issue one, so we have to enforce the law but our focus is on those who are bilking people out of a large amount of revenue.”
Initially the city lifted 50 percent of tax claims for cases in the Tax Appellate Commission, and the authority waved millions of birr for applicants claiming their estimated dues were too high. The bench will review cases after the applicant pays half of the claimed amount and the respondent, agrees to wave half. The applicants still can continue their litigation if they believe the estimated dues should be deducted even further.
The city is planning on training their employees on implementing the new way of doing things. If charges are waived those affected can apply for their withdrawal of appeal afterwards, according to Tamrat.

NBE reserves grow by 15%

Staff Reporter
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NBE reserves grow by 15%

The National Bank of Ethiopia’s (NBE) first quarter bulletin for 2018/19 budget year indicated that at the end of first quarter of 2018/19, reserve money reached 174.8 billion birr, depicting 15 percent growth over last year’s same quarter.
Component wise, both currencies in circulation and bank deposits at NBE rose by 16.8 and 12.1 percent, respectively. This is almost similar to the preceding quarter which ended in June. The report indicated that the currencies in circulation in September 2017 were 94.9 billion which stood at 112.9 billion birr in June last year while the dropped to 110.8 at the first quarter of the fiscal year, which is at the end of September 2018. Despite the Bank’s deposits at NBE has increased in September compared with June 2018. The report shows that in September Banks’ deposits at NBE were 63.9 billion which were 4.4 percent increase compared with 61.2 billion birr in June 2018.
The quarterly bulletin stated that net foreign assets of the NBE declined by USD 283.9 million, while that of commercial banks increased by USD 214.9 million. Thus, gross international reserves as of September 30, 2018 were sufficient to cover 2.6 months of payments for import of goods and non- factor services for next fiscal year.
According to the report the number of bank branches has reached 4,986 by adding 229 new ones. Based on the number of branches one branch on average serves 19,788.41 people. Of the total bank branches, about 34.6 percent were located in Addis Ababa. The share of public banks in total bank branches was 30.6 percent while that of private banks stood at 69.4 percent.
At the end of first quarter of 2018/19, the total capital of the banking system reached 89 billion birr, depicting 11 percent annual growth. Of the total capital, private banks accounted for 39.8 percent while that of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the Development Bank of Ethiopia were 51.5 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, thereby putting the total capital share of the two public banks at 60.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the banking sector disbursed about 30.1 billion birr in new loans, registering a 31.8 percent annual increase. Of the total new loans disbursement, the share of public banks was 44.2 percent and that of private banks 55.8 percent. The major beneficiary of bank loans was industry accounting for 28.8 percent followed by domestic trade (18.3 percent), international trade (14.6 percent), and construction (12.9 percent), and agriculture (10 percent).
In the meantime, the loan collection of the banking sector reached 29.6 billion birr, about 24.4 percent higher than last year same period. Total outstanding credit of the banking system (excluding credit to government) increased to 405.7 billion birr, showing 22.9 percent annual growth. About 99.8 percent of the private banks and 48.1 percent of public banks’ loans went to finance the private sector.
During the first quarter of 2018/19, total merchandise export earnings (including electricity) amounted to USD 628 million depicting a 7.4 percent decline compared with the same quarter of last year. This was due to lower earnings from export of coffee (5.2 percent), oilseeds (22.4 percent), pulses (5.3 percent), fruits & vegetables (5.1), flower (2.9 percent), gold (45.2 percent), live-animals (51.4 percent) and electricity (25.2 percent). “The slowdown in export revenue was attributed to lower export volume, prices or both” it explained. The contraband activity in relation to gold and live animals has been a major challenge for the year. The report shows that the drop in percentage for the two export products is significant compared with the preceding year.
In the meantime, total merchandise import bills declined 8.7 percent to USD 3.7 billion compared with the same quarter last year on account of lower imported capital goods (20.4 percent), consumer (6.1 percent), semi-finished (22,5 percent) and miscellaneous goods (30.5 percent).
In contrast, the values of imported fuel surged 43.7 percent and that of raw materials 60.7 percent. As a point of reference for international oil price, the average price of Brent crude oil increased by 46 percent and reached USD 75.5 per barrel during the first quarter of 2018/19 vis-à-vis USD 51.7 a year ago.
During the first quarter of 2018/19, total transfer receipts increased by 7.4 percent to about USD 1.8 billion. This growth was attributed to an 11.7 percent increase in private transfers. Private individual transfers rose by 28.9 percent whereas NGO transfers declined by 51.7 percent. Hence, the current account balance (including official transfers) registered USD 1.04 billion in deficits during the first quarter of 2018/19, compared with USD 1.6 billion in deficits a year ago.
In contrast, capital account surplus reached USD 963.3 million about, 27.7 percent lower than last year’s same period. This performance was attributed to a (68.1 percent) slowdown in net official long term capital and 23 percent in FDI inflows.
As a result, the overall balance of payments recorded USD 69.1 million deficits compared to the USD 321 million deficit registered a year earlier.
At the end of September 2018, total deposit liabilities of the banking system reached 750.4 billion birr, indicating a 25.3 percent annual growth, which signified strong expansion of bank branches and improved access to finance, growing saving culture of the society and an increase in per capita income, according to the report.
Demand deposits accounted for 35.2 percent of total deposits and reached 264.3 billion birr showing a 17.1 percent annual growth. Similarly, saving deposits went up 32.7 percent and its share in total deposits reached 54.3 percent. Time deposits, which constituted 10.5 percent of the total deposit liabilities, increased 19.4 percent over the same period of last year. The share of public banks in total deposits outstanding was 61.3 percent and that of private banks 38.7 percent.
Total outstanding borrowing of the banking system stood at 66.4 billion birr, showing a 64 percent annual increase. Of the total borrowing, 58.2billion birr (88 percent) was from domestic and 8.1 billion birr (12 percent) from external sources.
During the review quarter, banks disbursed 30 billion birr in fresh loans, showing a 31.8 percent year-on-year growth. Of the total new loans disbursed, public banks accounted for 44.2 percent and private banks 55.8 percent.
The major beneficiary of bank loans was industry which took 8.6 billion birr (28.8 percent) followed by domestic trade (5.5 billion birr or 18.3 percent), international trade (4.4 billion birr or 14.6 percent), housing and construction (3.9 billion birr or 12.9 percent), and agriculture (3 billion birr or 10 percent). The remaining share was taken up by other economic sectors.
During the first quarter of 2018/19, a total of 544 investment projects having investment capital of 5.9 billion birr became operational. Both the number of investment projects and investment capital grew by a significant percentage over the previous year’s same period, though they declined by 22 and 54.7 percent, respectively compared with the previous quarter. The foreign investment comprised 199.2 million birr (3.4 percent).

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