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Sep 7 , 2025

Birr Trades Quietly Through the Interlude

Forex trading opened without fuss on September 1, 2025, but signals from the top of the monetary system kept the banking industry alert. Beneath the surface of a calm foreign exchange market, treasury desks responded with quiet precision to a shift in leadership at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE...

Aug 30 , 2025

Forex Market Holds the Line While Central Bank Redraws It

The foreign-exchange market spent last week's trading days walking a tightrope between the Central Bank's policy drives and commercial imperatives. For most private banks, including Awash, Dashen, Nib, Wegagen, Bunna and Hibret, the show was almost mechanical. They posted buying and selling quotes that inched along by fractions of a cent, preserving the National Bank of Ethiopia's (NBE) mandated two percent retail spread. In an arena usually ruled by caution, such predictability remains the policy's point. But the Central Bank itself, which publishes benchmark rates, often breaks the script...


Jun 21 , 2025

Banks Edge Rates as Birr Slides and Pretenses Hold the Line

The foreign exchange market tiptoed through last week, exposing small cracks in the managed currency regime. Posted quotes from more than a dozen commercial banks, set beside the National Bank of Ethiopia's (NBE) own numbers, showed how the banks tried to balance official guidance with the hard task of finding scarce dollars. The most apparent split ran between two commercial banks. On Saturday, June 21, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia's (CBE) buying quote sat at 131.50 Br to the dollar, the lowest for the week and among the lowest on record this year. Oromia Bank, by contrast, continued...


Jun 15 , 2025

Behind Forex Stable Averages, Banks Signal a Coming Liquidity Crunch

The tightly managed currency market looked calm last week, yet beneath the surface, banks were jockeying for position in ways that unveiled deeper pressures ahead. Over the six trading days beginning June 9, 2025, the Birr (Brewed Buck) slipped only marginally against the Dollar (Green Buck), holding to an average buying rate of 132.26 and an average selling rate of 134.66. However, these midpoint figures could disguise a widening rift between banks using divergent strategies to cope with scarce foreign exchange. At one end of the spectrum was Oromia Bank, which kept its six-day average...

Money Market Watch

Aug 23 , 2025

Brewed Buck Drips Below Surface While Gaps Emerge Behind FX Facade

The foreign-exchange board inside commercial banks told two stories last week. On the surface, the Brewed Buck slipped gently against the Green Buck, obeying the two percent corridor the Central Bank...

Aug 17 , 2025

Policy Signals, Not Competition, Steer Forex Price Discovery

The Birr's (Brewed Buck) market against the Dollar (Green Buck) advanced in neat formation over six trading sessions last week. Private lenders marched almost shoulder to shoulder, policymakers fixed...

Aug 10 , 2025

Brewed Buck Glides Lower in Stage-Managed Move as Dollar Stays Unruffled

The Birr (Brewed Buck) spent last week edging lower against the Dollar (Green Buck) in a controlled and policy-led fashion, and one moment set the tone. The National Bank of Ethiopia's (NBE) foreign-e...

Aug 3 , 2025

A Year of Conditional Gains for Monetary Policy Reforms. But Endurance Remains the Test

The experiment with a freely traded Birr, or one managed in a floating manner in practice, was a year old last week, and the numbers tell a story of both promise and fragility. On July 29, 2024, Ce...

Jul 27 , 2025

A Year After Currency Float, the Central Bank Takes the Helm

This week marks the first anniversary of a daring departure from nearly five decades of tightly managed monetary policy. Since the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) opted to liberalise...

Jul 20 , 2025

Upstart Banks Pay Up for Dollars as Veterans Watch, CBE Sits Tight

It is unusual to see the BrewedBuck gain even a fraction of ground against the GreenBuck. Yet, last week, the Birr's steady slide briefly paused. On Saturday, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) poste...

Jul 13 , 2025

The Brewed Buck on the Boil as Banks Push Dollar Higher, Central Bank Holds Back

The Birr (the Brewed Buck) continued its slow retreat in the retail forex market last week, losing ground in quiet increments as commercial banks edged their dollar quotations higher. The panel averag...

Jul 6 , 2025

Behind Gentle Slide, the Brewed Buck Faces Mounting Strain in a Restrained Market

The Birr (Brewed Buck) edged lower against the Dollar (teh Green Buck) last week, a gentle slide that belies a deeper tightening of liquidity. Last week, the average buying rate posted by commercial b...

Jun 29 , 2025

Banks Stand Still While Currency Pressures Do the Running

The foreign exchange market moved little in the six trading days last week, but the calm surface concealed a handful of ripples. Across the banking industry, the average buying rate for the Dollar set...

Jun 8 , 2025

Banks Split on Dollar Bids as Birr Slips from Policy Grip

The foreign exchange market looked calm last week, yet its surface stability masked growing tensions among the commercial banks. Buying prices for the Green Buck clustered tightly around 131.95 Br, wh...

May 31 , 2025

Brewed Buck Caught Between a Peg, a Hard Place

The foreign exchange market spent the final week of May in a wary holding pattern, wrestling with liquidity strain yet stopping short of outright turbulence. A handful of commercial banks broke ranks...

May 24 , 2025

CBE Shifts Gear on Forex as Market Fractures Widen

The first move in nearly half a year by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to lift its foreign exchange offerings has injected fresh energy into a market that had been drifting in a narrow channel...

May 17 , 2025

Central Bank Tweaks Rates While the Birr Holds Its Breath

The foreign exchange market had a telling week, and the story was all in the margins. Last week, the Central Bank nudged its official cash-buying rate from 130.47 Br to 132.17 Br for a dollar, a small...

May 11 , 2025

Birr's Gentle Drift Shows Banks Divergent Forex Strategies, Market Strain

In a week defined by whispers rather than shouts, the foreign exchange market revealed a telling duality of centralised moderation by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and nimble, bank-level manoeuv...

May 4 , 2025

CBE Holds Firm as Private Banks Race Ahead

The foreign exchange market edged lower again last week, deepening a slide that has become a fixture for importers and travellers. During the six trading days from April 28, 2025, banks posted buying...

Apr 27 , 2025

Birr on the Rocks as Forex Auctions Chase Ghosts of Stability

Ever since policymakers loosened their grip on the foreign exchange regime last August, the Birr (Brewed Buck) has marched lower against the U.S. Dollar (Green Buck). Yet, the National Bank of Ethi...


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