The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) is injecting an additional 206 million Br into the economy.

To print the notes, the Bank approached international firms to vie and print two denominations - 50 Br and 100 Br - according to sources close to the case.

The value of the to be printed cash is five times lower than what the Bank has printed previously.

The bank will print 187 million Br in 100 Br notes and 19.6 million Br in 50 Br denominations. The bid calls for Free on Board (FoB), an arrangement that obliges the seller to deliver the goods at its own cost via a specific route designated by the buyer.

Normally, cash notes are transported by the national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, and printed in countries where the airline has direct flight connections.

Francois, Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire (FCOF) from France, Germany's Hermann Giesecke & Alphonse Devrient and De La Rue of Britain are among the companies that have a track record for bidding to print the nation’s currencies for the central bank.

The currency will be injected into the economy, which has a broad money supply of 752.1 billion Br in the first quarter of this fiscal year. The supply shows a 24.9pc growth over the corresponding quarter last fiscal year.

The increase in the broad money supply was attributed to a 21.6pc growth in domestic credit and a 22.5pc expansion in Net Foreign Assets, a metric used to assess the indebtedness of a particular country.

The growth in domestic credit was driven by a 22.1pc upsurge in credit to the non-federal sector and 7.3pc credit to the central government. The government’s measure to raise Commercial Bank of Ethiopia's (CBE) capital by issuing non-interest bearing bonds attributed to the expansion of credit to the central government.

The cash will not affect the economy if it is printed to replace worn out cash, according to Alemayehu Geda (Prof.), a macroeconomist and university lecturer at Addis Abeba University's Faculty of Business & Economics.