ETHIOPIA: Negotiations for Tariff Cuts & more – 10th July 2025

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 10th of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

Let’s kick off with some election news. The general election, held every five years, is scheduled to be held mid-twenty twenty-six. Ahead of the elections, the government submitted a draft amendment to change the election rules to Parliament on Friday the 4th.

What’s interesting about the proposed amendment is that it removes a clause allowing the presence of a grievance hearing committee at polling stations. The drafters said that they scrapped this clause because the number of polling stations has increased, and setting up these committees needs a lot of resources, making them impractical. The draft amendment instead says grievances can be brought to the polling stations’ officers.

Next up, on Monday the 7th, the House of Peoples’ Representatives held its final session for the fiscal year. The House voted to remove a clause that grants immunity for all crimes except murder that investigators commit in the course of an investigation. This clause was included in a controversial bill that allowed the government to confiscate property whose source is not known, even if the property was acquired or the money gained was from up to ten years ago.

The clause, as well as the entire bill, has received strong criticism from legal professionals and human rights activists. The government says this bill was enacted to combat the financing of terrorism.

There was another agenda at the same session as members criticized their low wages and few benefits. One member from a regional party said the amount he receives from other part-time commitments is more than his salary as a member of parliament.

Members were not happy about state ministers and directors of executive agencies receiving more benefits. They said that their salaries are significantly lower than those of Kenya’s MPs. The House’s Deputy Speaker admitted that members aren’t being paid enough and that plans to make minor improvements are underway, adding that major improvements require significant legislative changes that will be considered going forward.

In unrelated news, on Friday the 4th, academics from over twenty universities brought constitutional amendments as an agenda to the National Dialogue Commission, which the government established to help facilitate dialogue and solve the country’s longstanding problems.

Among the clauses in the Constitution that they want to amend are those that don’t cap the Prime Minister’s term in office, that grant broad powers to the executive, and those that allow regional governments to break away from the federal republic and establish their own countries. They said these issues have always been debatable and should be subjects of further dialogue. The other agendas they presented include historical narratives, ethnic-based politics, justice, and reconciliation.

On another note, The Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission released a report this past week about fair spending in government-funded irrigation projects. The Commission said it spotted several flaws, explaining that among the twenty irrigation projects, valued at over a hundred and twenty billion birr, which is over eight hundred million US dollars, procurement procedures aren’t clear and that there’s little accountability for unnecessary spending. Project delays are also causing the government to dole out even more money to complete these projects.

The Commission highlighted how some contracts were awarded to contractors without a public auction, hinting at devious activities. Officials from the Ministry of Irrigation cited the Ministry’s ever-changing structure as a reason why the spending increase appears to be more than what’s needed.

Next up, The Addis Ababa Peace and Security Bureau announced on Thursday the 3rd that it will begin requiring residents to install security cameras in alleyways and internal roads. The bureau also said that it is going to couple these requirements with efforts on its part to expand the installation of security cameras along the city’s main roads.

The bureau said all this at its annual review, highlighting progress in terms of combating land squatting and securing the corridor development project, which aims to beautify the city and streamline traffic. The bureau added that the city’s crime rate fell by forty-three percent this year.

On Friday the 4th The Ethiopian Electric Utility, a state-owned distributor of electric power, said in a press conference, it is going to spend twenty million birr, which is a little over a hundred and thirty thousand US dollars, to replant trees that were cut to build infrastructure and prevent the blackouts that were caused by trees interfering with electric lines.

The distributor also said it’s been working to make electric power availability reliable over the summer, which is the main rainy season in most parts of the country. The Utility also explained that contact between electric lines and trees are causing about half of all power outages.

The Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration announced that Ethiopia will negotiate a new tariff deal with the United States that will allow the country to export products to the US duty-free. Currently the US has slapped a ten percent tariff on imports from Ethiopia.

The negotiations that the Ministry announced could help to reduce or remove the tariff.

More news concerning the US as its embassy in Addis Ababa said it has reduced the maximum stay duration of Ethiopian holders of most nonimmigrant visas to the US. Previously, Ethiopians with business or tourist visas could stay in the US for up to six months at a time, with multiple entries allowed.

However, on Thursday the 10th, the embassy said Ethiopians with these visas can only stay in the US for a maximum of three months and are only allowed single-entry, so even if they leave the US before the three months have elapsed, they can’t travel again using the same visa.

On a previous show we reported that single-use plastic manufacturers asked the Environmental Protection Authority to extend the time to outlaw the production and use of single-use plastic products. Well, this week, the Authority denied these requests, saying that the bill outlawing single-use plastic and forcing manufacturers to either stop or transition to products less environmentally harmful has considered the fate of the manufacturers.

The Authority said it will collaborate with other government offices to enable these manufacturers to transition to producing more sustainable products. Their support will include allowing the manufacturers to import machinery duty-free and providing loans. Producers were not happy with the Authority’s response and warned that they will take the matter to the Investment Board to have the bill suspended or amended.

Mesobo, a cement factory in Tigray, has ceased operations. Newspaper Reporter said its sources told it that the Tigray region’s Southern Zone stopped providing raw materials because it felt that it was not fairly represented in the company’s board of directors.

Disagreements between newly appointed and incumbent board members have also complicated the matter. The consequences of these controversies have made impacts beyond the company. Workers aren’t being paid their wages and cement prices in the region have shot up. Efforts to resolve the issues and resume operation are underway.

For our final story, last week we reported that the Awash Bank broke the country’s record for the highest ever profit by a private bank. Its sister company Awash Insurance came out with its annual report this week, revealing that it collected four and a half billion birr, which is thirty million US dollars, in this past fiscal year alone, a forty-six percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year.

The company said it collected the highest premium among private insurance service providers. Awash Insurance also said it paid one and a half billion birr, which is ten million US dollars, for insurance claims from some of its more than hundred thousand customers.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Ciao!