Officials of Addis Abeba’s City Administration have ordered a freeze on new procurements across the bureaucracy, imposing a citywide spending clampdown as the capital enters the final quarter of the fiscal year, in an attempt to halt the rush to exhaust public budgets. The restriction, introduced last week, applies to almost all offices under Mayor Adanech Abiebie’s Administration.

A letter signed by Abdulkadir Redwan, head of the Addis Abeba Finance Bureau, instructed the city’s administrative structures not to initiate fresh purchases. It covers 87 sectoral bureaus, 11 districts and 119 woredas, placing the city’s largest spending networks under a procurement freeze when offices usually race to execute delayed plans.

City officials cast the order as a test of fiscal discipline for an administration managing a record 350 billion Br budget in the 2025/26 fiscal year. It is the first budget financed from internal revenue without federal government support. The city planned to mobilise more than 98pc of the total from the city's sources, a 51pc increase from the previous target. Capital spending has surged by 68pc to more than 246 billion Br, giving the Finance Bureau an incentive to redirect resources from administrative spending to large projects.

For the Bureau, the timing is not accidental. According to Abiy Bitew, loan fund managment coordinator, the last quarter of the fiscal year often encourages offices to rush purchases rather than returning unused budgets. He disclosed to Fortune the Administration's priorities for saving and shifting money toward mega projects.

“The Bureau imposed the restriction to curb wasteful spending, noting that purchases made in the fourth quarter are often vulnerable to misuse,” said Abiy. “Rather than returning unused funds, these expenditures are frequently driven by a ‘use up the budget’ mentality, a practice the Bureau wants to put an end to.”

The decision has disrupted plans inside the city government. The Labour & Skills Bureau had intended to upgrade its communications department by procuring modern computers and equipment for graphics work, as well as cameras. The purchases were scheduled for the current quarter but have now been stopped. According to Teklemariam Jatena, the Bureau’s communications head, his office had prepared to modernise its work before the directive arrived.

“We had planned to acquire the latest equipment to upgrade our communication work," he told Fortune. "But that has now been stopped because of the ban."

Abiy treats such interruptions less as collateral damage than as evidence of weak planning. He argued that bureaus that fail to initiate procurement in the first nine months and then rush to spend in the final quarter reveal poor planning and a tendency toward waste.

"Suppliers anticipate the end-of-year rush and raise prices accordingly," he said. “Even to avoid inflated prices, it is advisable not to procure at this time.”

City officials disclosed that procurement contracts already signed may continue. Utility expenses, including electricity, fuel and water bills, will be unaffected. Project-related procurements are also exempt. All other new procurement activities are suspended, leaving routine administrative purchases on hold unless they fall within the exceptions.