CBE’s remittance revenue outweighs income from direct international trade

CBE’s remittance revenue outweighs income from direct international trade

By Muluken Yewondwossen

Monday, 04 May 2015 05:56

Ethiopia gets USD 3.63 billion from remittances sent via the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) until the third quarter of the budget year, a statement the bank sent to Capital said. The hard currency the country secures from remittance is growing significantly from time to time. Some studies indicated that remittance sent from oversees has become the major hard currency sources for the country than revenues earned from direct international trade or export. The hard currency earned in the first nine months of the current fiscal year by CBE, is higher than the country’s annual export revenue generated in the past fiscal year or from the projected revenue for the current year. For instance, in the past nine months, the hard currency that was earned from international trade by CBE was USD 756.1 million. CBE’s foreign exchange earnings in the past three quarters stood at over USD 4.4 billion. In the 2013/14 fiscal year, the bank has gained USD 5.5 billion from foreign exchange, which is higher by USD 1.1 billion compared with the three quarters achievement in the current budget year. The nine month performance evaluation the bank’s management conducted a week ago indicated that CBE has earned 9.05 billion birr gross profit, and the total revenue for the stated period has reached close to 16 billion birr. In the past fiscal year of 2013/14, the bank has earned 9.7 billion birr gross profit and a revenue of 17.2 billion birr. Deposit mobilization capacity of CBE at the end of the third quarter is 27.5 billion birr and total deposits reached 220.8 billion birr. On the interest free saving, the number of account holders reached 69,217 and the saving amount has reached 807 million birr. To expand extensively its service, the bank has opened additional 107 new branches in different parts of the country increasing the number of branches to 939 by the end of the third quarter. CBE mobilizes 1.1 billion birr from the new branches, while 1.9 million new depositors are included on the bank’s customers’ lists making the total number of depositors 10.1 million. The bank has a target of increasing its branches to 1,000 at the end of the fiscal year in July 2015. In the stated period, the bank also dispersed about 63 billion birr in loan and bond sales. The bank that has 627 Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) in different parts of the country has made 11.1 million transactions that are worth 9.6 billion birr, and a foreign exchange service cashing USD 33 million. 228,903 transactions involving 553 million birr were undertaken by 1,162 Point of Sell (PoS), while 144,588 clients are using mobile banking, which is the latest banking service for the country. Currently, 809 branches are connected with the T-24 core banking solution system, with additional 178 branches being included on the system in the past nine months. According to the report, the bank’s asset has reached 276.3 billion birr, which has been 242.7 billion birr in the past fiscal year. CBE has also signed an agreement with the Chinese construction company, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), to construct a 46-storey building at the heart of the capital in the so called financial district. Source:capitalethiopia