In a significant development, hotels across Ethiopia have restarted accepting full payment in US dollars from foreign passport holders for the services they provide.

This move comes after the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has reinstituted a directive that had been in place previously, but had fallen by the wayside in recent years due to lax enforcement.

Aster Solomon, the president of the Addis Ababa Hotels Association, explained to Capital that the directive allowing hotels to collect service fees in US dollars from foreign nationals has been on the books for years. However, the lack of stringent control by the authorities had led to a loosening of the implementation.

“The directive was already in place at the legal level, but the control was low, so that foreign nationals could only pay for the services used by the hotels where they were staying,” Aster stated.

This shift occurred as the gap between the black market exchange rate and the official rate widened, leading foreign visitors to make payments in the local Ethiopian birr currency rather than US dollars.

“The majority of hotels receive service fees in dollars under a pre-issued license with the National Bank, and the answer is in birr, but in the process its implementation has become looser,” Aster added.

The government has now moved to tighten the controls once again, compelling hotels to accept full payments from foreign nationals in US dollars only. This, according to Aster, is an opportunity for the country to benefit from the inflow of foreign currency.

“This re-tightening of controls is for the benefit of hotels and not for the benefit of the country, adding that it is an opportunity to benefit the country in terms of obtaining foreign currency,” she emphasized.

The move is also seen as an effort to encourage more diaspora arrivals from abroad to Ethiopia, as the government has reduced the number of transactions allowed in dollars at hotels.

With the NBE’s renewed enforcement of the directive, hotels across Ethiopia have begun implementing the same, ensuring foreign guests pay the complete service fees in US dollars once again.

Dagne Dhaba Agricultural Products Exporter has announced that it has expanded to the Gurage Zone in Central Ethiopia region. The firm’s new farm, located in this zone, intends to grow one million orange seedlings. The company has already had success on its farms in the Welayta Zone in South Ethiopia region, situated on the western bank of the Bilate River and the northeastern border of Abaya Lake, for the past three years.

Over the past year and a half, Dagne Dhaba has been working on the newly acquired property in the Gurage Zone. Tasks performed included cleaning and building roads, as well as planting and other various activities.

During the previous dry season, orange, lemon, and mandarin trees were planted on 200 hectares of land. Additionally, vegetables, beans, and other grain products were grown using an irrigation scheme. The company is currently growing maize on 2,000 hectares for the local and export markets, along with hybrid maize seeds that will be given to farmers.

The aim is to produce one million citrus trees at the farm located in Enemor and Cheha woredas in the coming year. Currently, citrus seedlings are being raised to plant on approximately 700 hectares. The goal is to eventually expand the plantation to one million new trees. In addition to expanding the international market, the main target is to produce ample oranges for the local market, which currently relies on imports.

Ethiopia’s climate is conducive to producing high-quality fruits that meet international standards. This is why the decision was made to cultivate high-value fruits on the company’s farms. The new farm, located around 190 km west of Addis Ababa on the eastern bank of the Gilgel Gibe River, is strategically positioned and easily accessible from key market places, including neighboring nations.

With over 4,000 hectares under cultivation, the farm has plans to expand to 10,000 hectares in the near future. Experts predict that the increased orange production will have a significant impact on the market, which also imports oranges due to relatively low domestic production.

Meanwhile, the company is hesitant to disclose the total amount it spent at the farm. Billions of birr were allocated to various tasks, including the construction of over 50 km of internal access roads, undergrowth trimming, drip irrigation installation, and daily machinery allocation.

“Our machines require approximately 6,000 liters of fuel for daily operations,” clarified Dagne.

According to him, banking firms do not provide loans for his venture.

The investor stated that a main challenge faced by the venture is a shortage of motivated staff.

“We have more than 1,000 employees, but the actual demand exceeds three times our current capacity,” the investor asserted.

Currently, the farm in the Abaya and Bilate regions covers approximately 2,500 hectares of land.

The farm is now home to one million avocado trees, 1.5 million banana plants, 500,000 papaya trees, 30,000 orange trees, and other crops such as pomegranate.

“We provided one million improved banana seedlings to farmers in various areas last year,” the proprietor stated.

Apart from a trial period for supplying avocado products to the European market, the company’s fruits now dominate the local market.

Usman Surur, Head of the Bureau of Agriculture and the Coordinator of the Agriculture and Rural Development Cluster in the Central Ethiopia region, commended the company’s initiative as an exemplary model for other investors to follow in the agriculture sector towards national prosperity.

“Despite only having the land for a short time, the farm has produced a range of agricultural products, including industrial inputs, in less than a year,” he stated.

Usman said, “That is why we handed over this land to the investor,” referring to the investor’s success in Bilate and Abaya.

According to him, the investor played a key role in providing banana seedlings to farmers at a low cost. “Farmers in our region and others will have a great opportunity to obtain improved fruit seedlings through this investment,” he continued.

To attract more workers to the farm, he mentioned that his administration will organize awareness-raising events in the region.

The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) has declared its commitment to providing necessary assistance for the implementation of the One Health (OH) approach.

In 2017, Ethiopia formed an Ad-hoc National One Health Steering Committee (NOHSC) to ensure a coordinated response to global pandemics such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Zika.

Since its establishment, the committee has been coordinating OH programs and actions nationwide. Its members include specialists from the fields of agriculture, health, environment, wildlife management, as well as other stakeholders such as NGOs and bilateral organizations.

However, the committee has faced challenges, including the lack of its own office, funding for collaborative efforts, and a primary focus on zoonotic diseases rather than ecological health.

To address these challenges, the Ethiopian government, in collaboration with relevant administrative bodies and partners, has taken a significant step towards establishing a One Health Secretariat as the custodian of EPHI. This was done through the issuance of the ‘Ethiopian Public Health Institute Establishment Regulation No. 529/2023’ in November last year.

Dr. Getachew Tollera (MD, MPH), the deputy director general of EPHI, emphasizes the importance of the OH strategy in safeguarding the population from potential pandemics and strengthening Ethiopia’s health emergency systems. He also highlights the need for comprehensive and coordinated solutions to address the country’s health issues.

To establish a more resilient healthcare system in Ethiopia, the Deputy Director General emphasizes the necessity of involving all essential stakeholders in the implementation of the OH approach. EPHI is committed to providing necessary assistance to all stakeholders engaged in OH approach implementation in Ethiopia.

The Science Communication and Media Café event on July 11 and 12 brought together stakeholders in public health and media to discuss the importance of strengthening the OH strategy in addressing the nation’s public health concerns. Mirgissa Kaba, a professor at the School of Public Health of Addis Ababa University and coordinator of the Capacitating One Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (COHESA) project, states that the project has been promoting OH concepts in Ethiopia through various awareness creation efforts for multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary teams.

“We have also been promoting interdisciplinary collaborative activities among stakeholders in the health, agriculture, and environment protection sectors, as well as educational and research institutes. These efforts need to be strengthened to realize a strong OH approach in Ethiopia and protect the people from future emerging and re-emerging pandemics such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola,” says the COHESA project coordinator.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that works at various levels to achieve optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment/ecology.

COHESA is a project implemented across eleven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The project consortium consists of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) Africenter. In each country, the project works with an academic partner and a wider stakeholder team to adapt and adopt OH approaches and solutions.

In a move to encourage the use of local currencies and strengthen financial and commercial cooperation, the central banks of Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates have signed a series of landmark agreements.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) have signed a bilateral currency swap agreement for the UAE dirham (AED) and the Ethiopian birr. The two parties have also entered into two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to establish a framework for using local currencies in settling cross-border transactions and linking their payment and messaging systems.

According to the statement released by the NBE, the currency swap agreement allows the CBUAE and the NBE to swap local currencies with a nominal value of up to AED 3 billion and 46 billion birr. This agreement aims to provide liquidity in local currencies to financial markets, enabling more efficient settlement of cross-border transactions between the UAE and Ethiopia.

“The deal supports the financial and commercial cooperation between the UAE and Ethiopia through the provision of liquidity in local currencies to financial markets, enabling more effective and efficient settlement of cross-border transactions,” the statement read.

Under the first MoU, the CBUAE and the NBE will work together to promote the use of their respective currencies in settling transactions between the two countries. The MoU covers various measures to facilitate the use of local currencies in commercial transactions and encourages financial and banking cooperation through knowledge-sharing.

“It also encourages financial and banking cooperation through knowledge-sharing, ultimately supporting the development of their respective financial markets whilst facilitating bilateral trade and bolstering direct investment,” the statement added.

The second MoU focuses on cooperation in the areas of payment platform services and electronic switches. The central banks will work to interlink their instant payment systems, national card switches, and messaging systems, in accordance with the regulatory requirements of each country. The agreement also includes cooperation in the field of financial technology and central bank digital currencies.

These agreements mark a significant step forward in strengthening the financial and economic ties between Ethiopia and the UAE, as the two countries look to promote the use of local currencies and enhance the connectivity of their payments systems.