Over the past week, the Brewed Buck has been under intensifying pressure, revealing cracks in the foreign exchange market. Banks were seen adopting varied tactics to respond to the scarcity of dollars, with Dashen Bank emerging as a notable outlier in its aggressive pricing strategies.

In the six days beginning November 18, the Birr continued its downward trajectory against the U.S. Dollar. The average buying rate was 121.61 Br a dollar, while the selling rate averaged 124.16 Br, maintaining a spread of approximately 2.05pc. The consistent spread across most banks demonstrated the National Bank of Ethiopia's (NBE) firm grip on forex transaction margins, limiting volatility in an already constrained market.

However, beneath this surface stability, noteworthy variations emerged among individual banks. The state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) consistently posted the lowest buying rate of 119.2 Br a dollar throughout the week. Its conservative stance likely comes from CBE's executives' desire to prioritise stable foreign exchange flows over short-term profitability, aligning with teh Central Bank's objectives to maintain market equilibrium.

Dashen Bank adopted an aggressive approach. It offered the highest buying rates, surpassing 123 Br a dollar on multiple occasions. On November 23, Dashen's selling rate peaked at 127.2114 Br a dollar, much higher than its competitors. The bold strategy could show Dashen's keenness to optimise foreign currency inflows where the forex supply has been constrained, possibly responding to heightened demand pressures within its client base.

Other banks, such as Wegagen, Abyssinia, and Awash, also posted higher rates near the market's upper end but maintained steadier trajectories. Their more cautious strategies exhibited a balanced approach to market shifts, avoiding the extremes of Dashen's pricing.

Adding to the market's complexity, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) displayed unusual fluctuations in its own rates.