As part of modernizing Ethiopia’s economy, it was announced recently that as of April 24, 2023 fuel transactions in Addis Ababa, shall be conducted through online payment methods only. Starting from July 8 it is planned to be implemented throughout the whole nation. This was stated by the Ethiopian Petroleum and Energy Authority following the meeting that was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport. Ethio Telecom, the fuel station owner, and other concerned parties in Addis Ababa. The government has also highlighted the importance of technology in ensuring traceability, preventing traders from cheating on taxes.
Biruk Adhane, Chief Mobile Money Officer of Ethio Telecom said that Tele Birr has done an effective job in making fuel transactions go digital. For this reason, in the last nine trial months, they mentioned that more than 30 billion Birr of fuel was transacted through telebirr alone. And there are about 1,250 gas stations in Ethiopia, serving nearly two million vehicles. Also over the past decades, the demand for fuel has grown immensely throughout the country.
Benefits of cashless transaction
- Convenience
- Safety
- Faster Transaction
- Track expenses
Following this drastic change, online payment platforms such as Telebirr Super App, and Nedaj of CBE have emerged to serve the large pool of gas users.
When using Telebirr, the internet is not required and the customer needs to transfer money to their telebirr account through a telebirr agent or service center assigned to each gas station. Next, the gas station staff will fill in the customer’s phone number and the amount of money to be paid. After that, the customer will receive a confirmation message on their phone. The customer will check that amount is correct and enter their PIN code. Finally, the customer will receive a confirmation message, and a receipt from Telebr verifying that the payment has been made. With this simplified digital means of transaction, Ethiopia is one step further into the digitalizing market. Ethio Telecom mentioned they are actively working on improving the network capacity to handle all transactions and address any concerns as well as issues that might occur.
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