By Eyasu Zekarias

A new directive is in the pipeline to bring all public enterprises under one legal framework.

The move is said to come after a push from the World Bank and the African Development Bank who provide credit services in Ethiopia, in addition to all development organizations having the same legal framework.

Gebyaw Yetayew, government’s procurement and property authority executive director of reform and capacity building, explained to Capital that the new guidelines are yet to be approved and are under debate, “All government development institutions are required to have three types of guidelines.”

“Other institutions involved in the service and financial sector, including Ethio-telecom have complained about the directive, but an agreement has been reached and now the final decision is in wait to implement the new decree,” Gebyaw explained.

The Government Procurement and Property Authority, which has the authority to build capacity and supervise the implementation of procurement and property management in the federal government, announced that the new legal framework has been discussed and sent to the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the Government Procurement and Assets Authority has informed Capital that in 2023/24, all purchases will be made entirely electronically.

The official stated that 169 federal institutions entered the electronic system in 2022/23, and as Gebyaw cites, more than 56 billion birr has been purchased.

As data highlights, 63 percent of government purchases are made through digital services, with a new system that has a legal framework.

As the official told Capital, “The purchasing system will be implemented in all institutions within one month. He announced that more than eleven thousand applicants have benefited and that up to thirty thousand purchasing systems will be included in the system.”