Addis Ababa will see a double-decker buses for public transport in the coming few weeks. Yesterday December 2, Metals and Engineering Corporation (MeTEC) delivered the buses which were ordered by the Addis Ababa City Administration in a ceremony held at Meskel Square. The buses are assembled in Bishoftu by MeTEC. Pictured are Brigadier General Tena Kurundi Vice director of MeTEC and Addis Ababa City Mayor Driba Kuma during the handing over ceremony.
Free Zone proposed to increase exports
The Ethiopian Freight Forwarders and Shipping Agents Association (EFFSA) is considering the creation of a free zone facility.
The association developed a study, which was presented to logistics officials, including the Ethiopian Maritime Affairs Authority (EMAA) and international partners at the Sheraton Addis recently, to encourage use of the Mojo Dry Port by the private sector.
In its proposal (EFFSA), which includes private logistics facilitators, stated that the formation of Free Export Zone Facility (FEZF) is adequate.
If the free zone is accepted by policy makers it will be the first one in the country.
“The dry port (Mojo) should ideally include a duty free export market zone,” the study indicated.
The report was presented by Aman Wole, Senior Instructor of Commercial and Ground Services Training at Ethiopian Aviation Academy, under Ethiopian Airlines Group.
Aman elaborated that the FEZF would create great market opportunities for the products of our agricultural producers, agro industrial manufacturers and others.
“The free zone facility will be a place where we organize duty free sales of manufactured products mainly for buyers from Africa and the Middle East,” Aman, who is an IATA and FIATA accredited expert, said.
He said that this will provide great opportunities to local manufacturers to promote their products and attract buyers for their own brands.
Another proposal is for the FEZF to have bonded warehouses and product outlets.
“We recommend adding value to our export items locally and selling them as opposed to the current service that we provide outside the country,” he told Capital. “If the export zone and bonded warehouses are established at the same location it will create a place for buyers from other countries to come and shop and for local manufacturers to promote their products at the facility,” he elaborated.
Aman said that the FEZF will boost exports, promote local manufacturers and to add value to goods. Products can be sold competitively and hard currency earnings will increase.
“The current bonded warehouse has many restrictions. The state owned Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise has not fully provided service for all users,” he added.
“We have seen this work in places like Singapore and other Asian countries,” he explained.
Plans are for the FEZF to be located at the Mojo Dry Port compound.
The study also looked at inland containerization services. It stated that currently the majority of sea bound export cargo travels to Djibouti without completing shipping processes in Ethiopia.
“Cargo is carried to the port loosely and its containerization, packing and preparation for shipping is done in Djibouti,” the study said.
With the setup of adequate facilities nationally, it will be possible for the private freight forwarding companies to provide complete services for organizing a full shipping process of exports.
“The whole task of positioning empty containers, inspection and cleaning, tallying and sorting, packing and stuffing and trucking and shipping scheduling, issuing shipping orders and getting a bill of loading releases locally can be handled effectively nationally creating additional opportunities for the logistics companies,” the study added.
Currently containerizing is mainly done at the sea port area and is paid for in foreign currency.
Logistics bottlenecks have hindered Ethiopia’s economic growth. Several strategies have been developed to improve the logistics sector and make it competitive with other countries. Ethiopia now spends up to 25 percent of its GDP on logistic services. In developed countries that figure is around 10 percent, according to the study.
The common use facility under the Mojo Dry Port that will include the private sector is one of the upcoming strategies that will be applied by the government. Mojo, the first dry port in the country is now under expansion by finance secured from the World Bank.
The expansion project that is expected to consume USD 150 million is expected to double the carrying capacity of the dry port facility from the current 14,500 containers.
AFRICA’S FAILING LEADERSHIP
Africa’s elites, minus its extremely few ‘organic intellectuals’, are way out of their depth when it comes to understanding, let alone solving, the formidable and protracted problems facing the continent. All across the region, the African sheeple (human mass) seem to have resigned to the fact that its current crop of leadership, not only political, might not be up to the task. Hence, the more daring youth are voting with their feet, while the silent majority, restless as ever, is waiting for the right moment to pounce on perceived enemies! In the mean time, the politicos, in conjunction with their hand picked parasitic oligarchs are enjoying their loot, seemingly oblivious to simmering resentments. They better learn from MENA (Middle East & North Africa)! See Yash’s article on Mugabe next column and others on page 44.
What is sad is; African leaders fear their own people. They have literally stopped consulting their populous on vital matters concerning collective life. They tend to rely on outsiders on how to deal with the continent’s severe problems. Running around the world, begging for funds to cover shortfalls in government revenues or take massive foreign loans to sustain unsustainable life styles, etc., etc., cannot secure the future; and the sheeple knows it! Pretension after pretension cannot build trust. As situations deteriorate, our leaders, instead of opening up to new alternatives (ideas/plans/trajectories, etc.) are doubling down on old unworkable formulas. In addition, our compromised elites/useful idiots, holler for increased subjugation. Where in the world have we seen countries bettering their lot by the wholesale abandonment of self-responsibility? Unsurprisingly, these ‘useful idiots’ or more like ‘useless idiots’ are given free reign to disseminate their propaganda, leveraging paid media, (both state and private). Prudent analysis challenging the lopsided world order, with a view to introducing trajectories that promise a more egalitarian, a more democratic and a more resilient livelihood is systemically relegated to the back burner, so to speak. This is one of the reasons why we have always been advocating for various media platforms under the control of living communities. Community media fully funded by the state, but with complete autonomy from the state and the market (managed by popularly elected individuals) is of the essence, if the sheeple is going to be enlightened about the real workings of the world system. Not allowing facts & truth to come to light will not guarantee a promising future. It is obvious that mouthpieces of the state and big business (adverts, sponsorship) do not want the sheeple to be well informed. What they want is a dumbed down populous for easy manipulation and gluttonous consumption, in short-the reproduction of zombies! See The Saker’s/Orlov’s article on page 44.
Africa, as the last frontier (at least to the daft system that only regards nature as a mere geological entity for resource exploitation) is still in contention amongst the powerful, both old and new. Transnational capital and its subservient hominoid, who are not amenable to the logic of life, are working to weaken/destabilize the continent with the hope of accessing one of the earth’s last remaining resources. We admit, trying to carve a more sustainable livelihood without bowing down to the destructive prevailing order, is not for the faint hearted. This project requires committed, creative, competent, confident, conscience, consciousness, co-operative, compassionate and high caliber leadership. These C’s are very important, if we want to have dignified existence worthy of its name. That is why there is an urgent need for a new breed of intellectual revolutionaries endowed with as many C’s as possible, to tackle the serious challenges we are all facing. To start with, we need to go back and examine the basics; do we produce what we need? If not, what are we going to do about it. Why should we embark on a blind trajectory that is certainly not sustainable? We Africans should realize that it is only life that is sacrosanct; everything else is secondary. When the globally operating polarizing economic system threatens life, we should reject it, comprehensively, before it destroys us all; period! Our experimentations with dead end paradigms should end, once and for all.
Developmentalism is superfluous when conflicts (actual/pending) rage on the ground. To galvanize the sheeple to the cause of ‘developmentalism’, capable leadership (not only political) needs to legitimize itself, first and foremost! But legitimacy is a complex animal that cannot be tamed at will. It is based, essentially, on moral integrity, proven through time. It cannot be attained by various quick fixes. Had that been the case, the Saudi royals and their billionaire oligarchs in custody would have secured it long ago. Their stolen money peddled out to charitable organizations (many of them dubious), should have helped. Their propaganda machine employed all over the world, to give them aura of invincibility and credibility should have elevated their status from crookedness to uprightness. Instead, over 90% of Saudi’s sheeple supports their imprisonment and the confiscation of their loot. Legitimacy is also based on transparent achievements. It cannot be superficially imposed from the top down, but has to grow from the root up. Thieving leadership (political, business, etc.) can never attain genuine legitimacy. Mediocrity (a common feature of the bureaucracy) and impostering (a common feature of criminally oriented businesses), which are currently let loose on the gullible global sheeple, don’t build legitimacy! See Smith’s article on page 46. Moreover, oligarchs and their degenerate culture can hardly appeal to the masses, however much it is pushed by the parasitic entities of society. In fact, flaunting decadence, facilitated by stolen money is an insult, an affront to those who bleed and sweat to make ends meet. Let alone legitimacy, even credibility needs proven history. Even though credibility is mostly about proficiency and tends to be morally blind, it still has its purposes. Don’t have any doubt; the global sheeple will soon be out on the streets with its ropes and pitchforks. Only genuine engagement with the large majority of people, however difficult, can secure peace and stability. There is no way out!
A wing of the Saudi royal family was willing to affect a purge in the fiefdom of blood relations, to save their skin. Why on earth should this be difficult in many of the African countries that had undergone serious revolutionary upheavals in their recent history? Here is a timely warning: “Revolution never comes with a warning, and this is because it usually seethes on the back burner until the top blows off.’ Gary Franchi. Good Day!
ERCA to crackdown on tax return audits
The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) warned tax payers that it will implement an aggressive audit operation and intelligence service because it is disappointed by the amount of vat refunds and declarations of losses.
Authority officials met with large tax payers and stakeholders at different events to talk about the issue.
Director of the Authority, Moges Balcha met with the media and expressed concern that some tax payers are declaring losses or no income on their annual income tax report and vat refund form.
“The authority is concerned about the new trend because it is affecting the government’s income and the economy,” he added.
This development is unhealthy Moges said.
At the discussion held at the Large Tax Payers Office (LTO) about a week ago the management of ERCA stated that the issue has to be corrected.
They said the Authority will take legal action against those who try to evade the tax.
ERCA’s four month evaluation indicated that there is a difference between Addis Ababa and federal tax payers.
“Our evaluation for the first four months of the budget year indicated that there is gap mainly on legality in terms of tax payment,” Moges told media.
“To do so we have strengthened the intelligence operation and investigation audit,” he added.
The officials said that they are disappointed in the result registered in the past period.
Experts at ERCA told Capital the tax payers under LTO have been also involved in tax evasion.
Even though they are very few (large tax payers) some of them are involved in illegal activities and tax evasion, according to sources at ERCA.
There are only 1,100 tax payers followed by LTO, while some of them have not considered the damage of tax evasion on their businesses, experts at ERCA said.
The large tax payers cover 45 percent of the tax collection.
From 16,000 tax payers who declared their annual income 63 percent came up with tax payments, and 28 percent declared loss or bankruptcy.
“It does not mean that business is always profitable, loss happens and that is also supported by the law. However, the issue is it is real or fake,” the director said.
He added that ERCA has finished undertaking an investigation on those who have declared a loss.
“We will give priority to the tax payers that have declared losses,” he strongly said.
In relation to vat on average from 17,500 VAT registered businesses that report every month 45 percent request a VAT refund.
The balance of vat collectors stated that they did not undertake business in the period.
“Because of the economic growth of the country it indicates that there are phony reports or refunds from the tax payers,” the director said.
ERCA claimed that illegal receipts are issued for the claim of vat refunds. It indicates that there is unhealthy tax system from the business community, according to ERCA head, who assigned for the post recently.
So far ERCA has prosecuted or is in legal proceedings against 81members of the business community who use illegal receipts and are involved in other types of fraud.
“We will continue to take similar action against those involved in illegal activity,” Moges said.
In the budget year 199.11 billion birr is expected to be collected from taxes and related sources according to the amended budget for the year. To accomplish this ERCA has increased its goal to 230 billion birr.
ERCA planned to collect 72 billion birr in first quarter of the 2017/18 budget year, however they only collected 63 billion.
“We have to change the current trend to register the expected achievement,” he added.
Illegal or phony receipts are the major challenges according to experts.
ERCA planned to increase tax revenue to 17.2 percent from the total GDP at the end of the current five year plan that will be end in 2020.
The current tax collection is 12.5 percent of the GDP. This is considered weak compared to other regional countries, according to the International Monetary Fund and other international partners.
“When we see the current trend it indicates that it is difficult to achieve the projection, so law enforcement has to be strong,” the director said.
“However, the current challenge is not out of control,” he said.
“We will implement the legal operation to settle the evasion,” he concluded.
