The Ethiopian government has announced plan to put all the major state corporations under a single administration.

Consequently, the former Ministry of Public Enterprises (MoPE), which was restructured a few weeks ago as the Public Enterprises Assets and Administration Agency (PEAAA), will be in charge of 22 major state enterprises, according to the information obtained from the communications office of the new agency.

MoPE, established 21 years ago, was previously called the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency. PEAAA's responsibility will also include privatising public enterprises fully or partially.

The companies to be administered by the agency include Ethio Telecom, the Ethiopian Airlines Group, Ethiopian Shipping Lines and Logistics Enterprise and Ethiopian Insurance Corporation.

Currency shortage

Others are the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, the Development Bank of Ethiopia, Metal and Engineering Corporation and the Hotels Development Share Company (Hilton Hotel Addis Ababa).

The companies were currently being administered by different state agencies and boards.

Following the recent foreign currency shortage in Ethiopia, the government announced intentions to sell minority shares in the Ethiopian Airlines Group, Ethio Telecom, sugar factories, electric power firms and its shipping and logistics lines to foreign investors.

“The decision of the government to bring these big companies under the agency will make easy the privatisation process, noted a business consultant at the Noble Consulting, Mr Melaku Kinfegebriel.