The year-end report from senior officials of the Ministry of Trade & Regional Integration (MoTRI) has cast a pall over parliamentarians, as previously anticipated boosts in export earnings following the cessation of the northern war were conspicuously absent. Instead, the treasury’s ongoing struggles with foreign currency shortages have been compounded by an 11.9pc drop in export earnings this year, totalling 3.2 billion dollars.

Agricultural commodities formed the backbone of the country’s earnings, contributing 2.5 billion dollars, with manufacturing and mining bringing in 370 million dollars and 206 million dollars, respectively. The report signals a significant downturn from the 2021/2022 fiscal year, where total merchandise export earnings peaked at a historic 4.1 billion dollars. The lion’s share of this revenue — 53pc — was generated by coffee, Ethiopia’s primary export, with a 26pc surge in international coffee prices.

However, the tide turned in the current fiscal year, as the value of Ethiopia’s main coffee export, Arabica, plunged by 35pc. The double blow of increased production in Brazil and a global economic deceleration drove down prices, dashing Ethiopians’ hopes of capitalizing on the previously favourable market. Parliamentarians expressed last week their deep concern at the persistence of rising inflation, coupled with an unexpected surge in contraband trade.

They also criticized the inconsistent supply of commodities and the widespread interference of unlicensed intermediaries in the market.

Tola Hailu, an MP from the Bale Zone in the Oromia Regional State, voiced his scepticism about the efficacy of the Ministry’s strategies in the fight against inflation and illegal trade.

“It’s hard to tell if there is a trade Ministry,” he told Fortune, questioning whether any efforts had borne fruit.

Tola asked the Ministry’s officials whether the franco valuta scheme — a system allowing importers to use their own foreign currencies to import goods — had positively impacted the availability of essential food items and cooking oil.

A total of 100 million dollars worth of goods, including 8.3 million quintals of sugar, 4.6 million quintals of rice, and 98.1 million litres of cooking oil, were imported under this scheme, the Ministry disclosed. However, Tola expressed concern that the scheme is opaque and hard to regulate, casting a shadow over its potential benefits.

“It’s a shaded practice that is difficult to regulate,” Tola told Fortune.

State Minister Kassahun Goffe, the highest-ranking official from the Ministry present at the meeting, rejected the implication that the Ministry had failed to protect the country's commercial interests.

“We’d not be here if we were not responsible and accountable,” said Kassahun.

His boss, Gebremesqel Chala, was in the south, voting for a referendum to determine whether Wellaita Zone should be elevated to a state. Kassahun argued that the current issues might have been caused by the imposition of a 70pc-dollar retention requirement from export earnings, alongside the generous margins offered by importing goods through franco valuta. However, he admitted that the Ministry was grappling with considerable amounts of contraband goods intercepted by the customs commission each week.

A long-serving MP, Ayele Negari, echoed this sentiment, highlighting that illicit trade networks have reached an all-time high nationwide.

“I could never imagine up to a billion Birr worth of contraband could be seized in a week,” he said.