Two draws and two wins in the past five consecutive matches the champions are slipping down the table. St George, famous for never turning back once in control of the driving seat, is five points clear of the defending champions. According to one senior club supporter, not only the poor result but also for the disappointing attacking displays despite having the deadliest striker Nigerian Okiki Afolabi has frustrated the home supporters.
“I believe we have the best squad in the league. But thanks to Seyoum Kebede’s lack of leadership and vision, a back to back championship title is no longer possible” said the supporter.
Ethiopia Bunna once again out of the league title race doesn’t look like getting back into the competition for it is already nine points behind the league leaders. The same “we-are- playing –good” suggestion after every single match, Kassaye appears obsessed with ball possession rather than winning points.
Critics suggest that lack of plan “B” when opposite teams go for pressing high in Coffee’s half, is Kassaye’s major handicap. Two defeats and two draws in the past five outings, Ethiopia Bunna supporters are once again divided with the majority asking for his sacking while others insisting his stay until his four years contract expire. “I am sure Kassaye is ready to leave the team if Ethiopia Bunna is willing a free pass out of his contract” A close friend of Kassaye suggested.
Three defeats in the past six matches, Baherdar Ketema’s dream of title contention under Coach Abraham Mebratu appears to turn into a nightmare. Double loss to Adama and Sidama followed by two draws against lowly sides Diredawa and Sebeta, fans started accusing the boss for the poor result.
Five points out of possible 18 from the last six matches and Abraham stating that he is quite happy in his team’s performance, let alone title contention finishing the season in a humble position could be a high hill to mount” suggested a critic who thinks Abraham’s stay in the club may not go past the end of the first round.
Seyoum, Kassaye & Abraham under the nasty radar
1xBet & bet365: websites review
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Comparing with gambling at bet365 online
The company is often compared to other giants of the international betting market. In fact, 1X are far from a leading position in terms of financial performance, but as for user experience, one can still argue whose conditions are more interesting. Anyone who has played at bet365 online earlier can confirm its website is comparable to 1xBet quality-wise.
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GERD officially starts power production
The national flagship project of Ethiopia, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam /GERD/officially starts its power production with its two turbines, as of today February 20, 2022, in the presence of high level officials. In the past few weeks the two turbines completed test trials successfully and the power generated entered the national grid.
The dam in its pre power generation is expected to generate 730 MW by operating the first two turbines.
As officials from the Ministry of Water and Energy explained, the power production will cover 20 percent of the nation’s power demand.
The construction of the Dam is still ongoing starting from 2011.
Financed by local sources, the GERD will be capable of producing as much as 5,250 MW of electricity, ranking it as one of the world’s largest dams and by far Africa’s largest dam by electricity production. Currently the overall construction progress of the dam has now reached to 84.2 percent.
Ethiopia has made the second filling in the past rainy season. The country has made a stand on equitable water use on the Abay/Nile River.
The GERD is the source of an almost decade-long diplomatic standoff between Ethiopia and downstream nations Egypt and Sudan.
Despite the downstream countries mainly Egypt expressing its concern on its water flow, Ethiopia strongly reassured that the project would not have harm on others and the country does not have intention to affect others.
To tackle the concerns, the three countries, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt discussed for years, while the negotiation was interrupted majorly from reasons that mainly come from Egypt.
Ethiopia has also been facilitating comprehensive engagements to address the concerns of the riparian countries since the inception of the construction of the GERD.
After discussions on UN Security Council the three countries have come to the AU-led negotiations and perhaps the negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are still suspended since Ethiopia completed the second filling of the GERD.
Ethiopia contributes more than 86 percent of water share for Abay.
With some cooperation and wisdom, it was initially possible that the ambitious GERD project could become both a great development project for the Ethiopian people and a model for cooperation between Ethiopia and its neighbors. Instead, the project has become a constant cause for conflict as the various actors vie for regional hegemony.
Policy tweaks surge the T-bill market
The policy shift on the Treasury bill (T-bills) market taken by the central bank is paying off exponentially as the outstanding amount spikes by almost four folds in the past fiscal year compared with the preceding year.
The annual report of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) which assesses the economy of the country indicated that at the end of the 2020/21 fiscal year, the total outstanding T-bills amounted to 116.6 billion birr, which is north of 391 percent higher than the preceding fiscal year.
It is to be recalled that the central bank had changed its policy direction on the T-bills market and made it a biweekly trade which was to be driven by the market than the previous fixed interest rate.
In its annual report, NBE stated that the surge of the T-bills, which is one of the primary money markets, was mainly attributed to the policy change on the issuance of T-bills since December 2019.
The annual report of NBE stated that during 2020/21, the total T-bills offered to the T-bills auction market showed a 42.9 percent increment and reached 330.7 billion birr while demand for T-bills increased 17.1 percent to reach 284.8 billion birr.
This indicated that the market was undersubscribed by 45.9 billion birr (13.9 percent). Thus, the amount of T-bills sold during the fiscal year was 238.8 billion birr which was lower than the demand by 46 billion birr.
The 2019/20 total outstanding T-bills was 23.7 billion birr which is significantly lower than the past fiscal year amount.
“Commercial Banks’ participation in the T-bill auction market has shown significant improvement and accounted for 52.0 billion birr or 44.6 percent of the total outstanding T-Bills where that of non-bank institutions stood at 64.5 billion birr or 55.4 percent,” the annual report reads.
The average weighted yield of all types of T-bills increased to 7.97 percent from 4.54 percent during the review period. The highest yield was recorded for the 364-day T-bills and the lowest 28-day T-bills with a corresponding yield rate of 9.03 and 6.83 percent, respectively.
The annual report of NBE it has also shown that the total resources mobilized by the banking system in the form of deposit, borrowing, and loan collection went up 51.5 percent and reached 505.2 billion birr at the end of 2020/21, “partly bolstered by the NBE’s Legal Tender Protection Directive that restricts cash holding and cash withdrawals as well as the demonetization measure undertaken during the review fiscal year.”
As result, the total deposit liabilities of the banking system rose to 1.4 trillion birr, witnessing a 30.3 percent growth.
Of the total deposits, saving deposits accounted for 60.3 percent, demand deposits 32.4 percent, and time deposits 7.3 percent.
Saving deposits showed a 38.7 percent increment while demand and time deposits registered 23.4 percent and 3.9 percent growth.
“The share of private banks in total deposit mobilization increased to 45.7 percent from 42.6 percent last year due to their opening of 749 new branches. Meanwhile, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia alone mobilized 54.3 percent of the total deposits due to its extensive branch network,” explained the report.
It added that raising funds through borrowing remained insignificant as most of the banks were sufficiently liquid due to increased deposit mobilization and collection of loans, “their total outstanding borrowing reached 84.2 billion birr compared to 80.4 billion birr a year earlier due to higher borrowings by the Development Bank of Ethiopia.”
Of the total borrowing, domestic sources accounted for 81.3 percent and foreign sources 18.7 percent. Net borrowing stood at 3.7 billion birr of which 98.7 percent was from foreign, which is for public banks, and 1.3 percent from local sources.
Moreover, banks loan collection was 186 billion birr in 2020/21, showing only 1.5 percent increments. Of which private banks collected 65.8 percent of the total loan disbursed.
