Ethiopian Airlines has launched a cargo route connecting Macau International Airport to Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport.
The inaugural flight to Spain’s busiest airport—a Boeing 777F freighter—departed from Macau on Thursday morning.
Initially operating twice weekly, the route is set to provide 400 tonnes of cargo capacity per week.
Exported goods include toys, electronics, furniture, auto parts, apparel, and beauty products. The airline says this reflects growing European demand for cost-effective products manufactured in China.
Beyond direct shipments to Madrid, Ethiopian Airlines will also facilitate transit shipments to South America, covering destinations such as Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Chile.
Macau, in turn, will benefit from fresh produce imports, including fruits, flowers, and seafood.
According to Ethiopian Airlines’ Beijing office, this new cargo route aligns with Macau’s 2025 expansion plan, strengthening its role in cross-border e-commerce logistics.
Ethiopian Airlines reported over USD seven billion (MOP55.6 billion) in revenue for its 2023/2024 financial year, an increase from USD 6.1 billion a year earlier.
In its latest financial report, the airline logged 577,746 flight hours across a broad network of 139 international destinations and 22 domestic routes, reflecting a 19 percent growth over the previous record.
Ethiopia’s largest commercial bank earns $247.8m
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), the nation’s largest state-owned bank, has reported a staggering 32.6 billion birr (about USD 247.8 million) profit during the first eight months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year which began on July 7, 2024.
The profit saw a 170.5 percent surge compared to the same period last year, Abie Sano, president of the bank said while presenting the bank’s performance report to the House of People’s Representatives Standing Committee on Government Enterprises.
“This exceptional profit growth reflects our strong performance in revenue expansion and effective cost control,” said Abie. “We’ve seen encouraging results across all income-generating segments of the bank.”
Sano stated that the bank’s total asset has also soared to 2.073 trillion birr (about USD 15.78 billion), the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday.
Describing the bank’s performance as “impressive”, Sano said as of February 2025, the bank’s total deposits surged to 1.541 trillion birr, while its loan and bond reserves reached 1.393 trillion birr.
CBE’s total income for the period reached 109.32 billion birr, representing a 26 percent increase year-on-year.
The strong financials are being attributed not only to higher revenues but also to improved credit quality, he said.
Abie noted that the bank’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio has declined, and provisions for bad loans have significantly decreased—further boosting the bottom line.
These figures, according to the bank’s president, show CBE’s strong position in the Ethiopian banking sector and its commitment to expanding financial services across the country.
The report highlighted that CBE has successfully increased its market share in key performance indicators since the beginning of the fiscal year, signaling a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.
Abie further emphasised the bank’s dedication to supporting economic growth across the country by providing substantial loans to customers.
(APA NEWS)
C3ai Enhances CSR Efforts with Elderly Aid in Macedonia
Employees of C3ai distributed clothing and hygiene products to elderly residents in Macedonia as part of a corporate social responsibility initiative. The team, representing various regions including Dire Dawa, Hawassa, Jimma, Dessie, and Woldia, expressed deep fulfillment from the visit and pledged to extend similar support in their communities.
Getachew Chane, Adiss Ababa branch marketing manager of C3ai, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to social responsibility, noting that the company has operated in Ethiopia for nearly a year and donated 650,000 with birr and items to support Macedonia’s elderly population.
“Beyond generating employment, assisting those in need is central to our mission,” he said.
C3ai specializes in developing AI software and servers, providing them to major corporations through sales and rentals. Getachew highlighted that the company’s server rental program has already helped over one million Ethiopians increase their incomes through marketing activities, with plans for further expansion.
He also underscored C3ai’s free training and consultation services, advising individuals to research companies thoroughly to avoid fraudulent schemes.
“Understanding a company before engaging with it is crucial to safeguarding against fraud and exploitation,” he emphasized.
As part of its ongoing support, C3ai and its employees are organizing a dinner event this Sunday, inviting over 500 elderly individuals from Macedonia.
Founded in 2009, C3ai drives digital transformation by delivering enterprise-scale AI solutions. Its platform supports industry-specific applications such as reliability monitoring, fraud detection, and supply chain optimization, ensuring cost-effective and efficient AI integration.
Meta faces £1.8bn lawsuit over claims it inflamed violence in Ethiopia
Meta faces a USD 2.4 billion (GBP 1.8 billion) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.
The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa. It is also seeking a USD 2.4 billion “restitution fund” for victims of hate and violence incited on Facebook.
One of the claimants is the son of Prof Meareg Amare Abrha, who was murdered at his home in Ethiopia after his address and threatening posts were published on Facebook in 2021 during a civil war in the country. Another claimant is Fisseha Tekle, a former researcher at Amnesty International who published reports on violence committed during the conflict in Tigray in northern Ethiopia and received death threats on Facebook.
Meta has argued that courts in Kenya, where Facebook’s Ethiopia moderators were based at the time, did not have jurisdiction over the case. The Kenyan high court in Nairobi ruled on Thursday that the case fell within the jurisdiction of the country’s courts.
Abrham Meareg, the son of Meareg, said: “I am grateful for the court’s decision today. It is disgraceful that Meta would argue that they should not be subject to the rule of law in Kenya. African lives matter.”
Tekle said he cannot return home to Ethiopia because of Meta’s failure to make Facebook safe. “Meta cannot undo the damage it has done, but it can radically change how it moderates dangerous content across all its platforms to make sure no one else has to go through what I have,” he said. “I look forward to this matter now being heard by the court in full.”
The case, supported by non-profit organisations including Foxglove and Amnesty International, also demands a formal apology from Meta for the murder of Meareg. The Katiba Institute, a Kenya-based NGO focusing on the Kenyan constitution, is the third claimant in the case.
In 2022 an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer found that Facebook was letting users post content inciting violence through hate and misinformation, despite being aware that it was fuelling tensions in Tigray.
Meta rejected the claims at the time, saying it had “invested in safety and security measures” to tackle hate and inflammatory language along with “aggressive steps to stop the spread of misinformation” in Ethiopia.
In January the company said it was removing factcheckers and “dramatically” reducing the amount of censorship on the platform, although it would continue to tackle illegal and high severity violations.
Meta said it did not comment on ongoing legal matters.
(yahoo!finance)
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia’s 50.4% Asset Share Signals Edge Over Private Banks in “Reform” Era
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), the country’s state-owned banking giant, has solidified its dominance, lifting its market share in total assets to 50.4 percent as of January 2025, up from 43.7 percent in June 2024 and a notable leap from 39.2 percent a year earlier in June 2023.
The total assets of CBE are now at two trillion birr, according to President Abie Sano, who briefed the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Government Enterprises Affairs on the bank’s eight-month performance.
Ethiopia’s banking sector has long been a tightly controlled arena, with CBE towering over a handful of private players since its founding in 1963. Historically, it has served as the financial backbone for state-led development, managing everything from infrastructure loans to foreign exchange.
But since July 2016, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration began unwinding decades of economic insularity, the landscape has shifted. Reforms, including plans to open the sector to foreign banks and float the birr, have injected urgency into CBE’s strategy.
Abie cast the bank’s latest gains as a direct response to this flux. “The CBE has spent the past eight months sharpening its edge in a transforming economy,” he told lawmakers.
Deposits soared to 1.541 trillion birr, nudging its market share to 49.3 percent from 47.1 percent in June 2024 (and 45.6 percent in June 2023), while its loan and bond portfolio hit 1.393 trillion birr, driving its loan share to 51.7 percent from 42.8 percent over the same period.
The backstory is one of scale and adaptation. A year ago, CBE’s total assets stood at 1.784 trillion birr, a figure that, while formidable, left it with a 39.2 percent slice of the asset pie amid growing competition from private banks like Awash and Dashen.
The past eight months have seen it widen that gap, capitalising on a lending boom and a digital push that now accounts for over half the market’s transactions.
Yet context matters. Ethiopia’s reforms, while promising in sectors such as trade, have brought volatility—currency depreciation and inflation have squeezed borrowers and savers alike.
(BirrMetrics)
