Massive ETB 2tln figure draws skepticism from analysts
Ethiopia Investment Holdings (EIH), the sovereign wealth fund managing some of the country’s largest state-owned enterprises, posted impressive revenues of a little over two trillion Birr in 2024/25, prompting some analysts to question the validity of the figures.
Documents obtained by The Reporter indicate EIH registered a pre-tax profit of 262.7 billion Birr, up nearly 90 percent from the previous year.
Performance data presented during an EIH policy dialogue and experience exchange conference featuring representatives from the Afar and Oromia regional administrations at the Addis Ababa Hilton on Thursday suggests the enterprises under the fund paid 226 billion Birr in taxes last year.
The state enterprises under EIH employ more than 180,000 people and collectively hold assets valued at over USD 45 billion. These include Ethiopian Airlines, Ethio telecom, the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation (EIC), and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), among dozens of others in agriculture, mining, construction, and hospitality.
An EIH press release issued earlier in the week indicates the transport and logistics sector, led by Ethiopian Airlines and the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE), accounted for more than two-thirds of profits before tax.
The Ethiopian Airlines Group reported it earned USD 7.57 billion in revenues over the 2024/25 year, more than half of EIH’s total revenue figure at current exchange rates. Analysts are split on whether the remaining two-dozen enterprises under EIH are capable of generating the remaining one trillion Birr in revenue.
Financial services were a distant second at close to 15 percent, followed by energy and telecommunications (10 percent), agriculture (2.6 percent), and trade at just over two percent.
Key enterprises also registered notable operational growth, according to EIH reports.
Ethio telecom increased its customer base by seven percent for voice services and 15 percent for internet services while CBE reported a 310 percent rise in deposits and lending twice as much to the private sector as it did last year.
The Ethiopian Airlines Group saw an 11 percent rise in passenger traffic, while Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has expanded power supply by more than 18 percent. On the agriculture front, executives at the Ethiopian Agricultural Works Corporation say the volume of fertilizer distributed to farmers went up 18 percent, and Wonji Sugar Factory more than doubled sugar production with a 113 percent increase.
EIH officers who spoke to The Reporter anonymously attributed the success at Wonji to tighter administrative structure, a steady supply of sugar cane, and a stable security situation.
In the statement released on September 3, EIH noted that its companies had taken advantage of opportunities created by macroeconomic reforms while also confronting market and operational challenges. The management emphasized that improving service quality, maximizing asset utilization, strengthening corporate governance, and advancing digitalization remain priorities for the coming fiscal year.
Looking ahead, EIH projects revenues of 2.75 trillion Birr and pre-tax profits of 412 billion Birr for the current fiscal year.
