Customs Commission to Approve Franco Valuta Import for Consumer Goods

Apr 9 , 2022


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The Ministry of Finance has announced that franco valuta import of designated consumer goods can be approved by the Ethiopian Customs Commission. The Ministry had allowed the import wheat, sugar, baby formula, edible oil and rice through franco valuta a year ago. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) was mandated to approve the origin of the foreign currency for the import. In a letter written end of last week, the Ministry cited the runaway cost of living and a flood of inquiries from those seeking to take advantage of the import exception have pushed it to take measures to expedite the import process. The Ministry had also lifted taxation for the consumer goods at the beginning of the financial year as a response to the rising cost of living. Headline inflation registered at 33.6pc in February 2022, above the 30pc mark for the seventh month in a row. According to a report from the Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration, in the past eight months 481 million litres of edible oil, 8.37 million qtl of sugar, 4.98 million qtl of rice has been imported.


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