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Jul 25 , 2026

Banks Push the Birr Past 160 as the Central Bank Sits Out

Commercial banks pushed the Birr (the Brewed Buck) to a fresh low against the dollar last week. The industry's average buying rate crossed 160 Br for the first time, and the Central Bank, which is meant to anchor the market, did not step in to intervene once. The average bid across the 28 commerc...

Jul 19 , 2026

The Birr Buck Slips, But Only a Few Banks Move It

The Brewed Buck slipped against the Green Buck last week, but the drift was too shallow and too ragged to call a repricing of the official foreign-exchange market. With the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) yet to hold a foreign-currency auction for weeks, most banks held their boards or moved them up, a surface calm that hid how differently each was chasing dollars. In the auction's absence, the market ran on three prices that no longer moved together; the Central Bank's own swinging quotation, the sticky cash boards of the commercial banks, and the higher effective rate some lenders pay...


Jul 12 , 2026

Abay Bank's Rate Jump Masks a Fragmented Forex Market

The Birr (the Brewed Buck) weakened slightly against the dollar in the six days to July 11, 2026, as the Central Bank stayed out of foreign-exchange auctions for a second week. However, beneath the calm, banks followed different strategies. The state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) raised its quotation, several large private banks let the dollar pass 159 Br, and many barely moved. Abrupt moves exposed a fragmented, possibly illiquid market in which headline averages masked the extent to which banks priced dollars differently. Across all banks but the Central Bank, the average...


Jul 4 , 2026

A Calm Rates Quote Hides a Split Forex Market

The Brewed Buck spent last week's foreign-exchange market calmer than the underlying conditions suggested. There was no auction by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) last week, yet the market did not show the gapping that usually signals shortage-driven repricing. Last week displayed a Birr that barely moved on paper. Beneath the calm, it stayed split between posted stability and scarcity. The dollar barely moved. The average buying rate increased from 158.67 Br on June 29 to 158.89 Br five days later, a depreciation of 0.22 Br, about 0.14pc, and the average selling rate edged up from ...

Money Market Watch

Jun 27 , 2026

A Forex Auction Softens Pressure Without Moving the Boards

The Birr, the Brewed Buck, did not break in the forex market last week. It sagged across bank boards, revealing pressure rather than panic and leaving the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) with a hard m...

Jun 21 , 2026

Forex Auction Sends One Signal, Banks Send Another

The Birr (Brewed Buck) refused to fall into line last week, as the cash market for dollars resisted the convergence the Central Bank had tried to engineer. Its latest foreign-exchange auction, held...

Jun 14 , 2026

Banks Hold Dollar Rates Steady After Central Bank Cancels Auction

The foreign exchange market opened the week with a contradiction. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) withdrew from a forex auction after floating 100 million dollars, a decision that would normally h...

Jun 7 , 2026

A Small Slide in the Birr Reveals a Bigger Split Over Dollars

The foreign-exchange market spent the first week of June moving, but not breaking. After weeks without a Central Bank forex auction, the Birr (the Brewed Buck) weakened modestly across commercial-bank...

May 31 , 2026

The Birr Looks Calm, But Banks Fight Over Dollars

The Birr (Brewed Buck) ended May's final week quietly. It barely shifted against the dollar last week. Yet daily cash-rate told a more unsettled story about banks no longer speaking with one voice. ...

May 23 , 2026

Forex Auction Uncovers a Market Under Pressure

Last week, the Birr - Brewed Buck - crossed a line the foreign-exchange market had long treated as a warning, not a price. Commercial banks' cash rates reorganised around a reference point of 160 Br t...

May 17 , 2026

Brewed Buck Looks Steady, But Banks Signal Dollar Stress

The Birr's (Brewed Buck) official cash market looked calm through Saturday, May 16, 2026. But the calm was administrative, not market-driven. With the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) absent from au...

May 9 , 2026

Banks Nudge the Birr, But Dare Not Let It Move

The foreign-exchange board's last week offered a deceptively quiet picture of the market. The implied depreciation was 0.05pc in six days, an unmistakably slow crawl. The calm is striking because t...

May 3 , 2026

A Quiet Forex Market Reveals the Limits of Monetary Reform

The Birr's (Brewed Buck) market passed last week quietly. Beneath it, the week exposed a currency board moving less by price discovery than by administrative habit. With no foreign exchange auction...

Apr 26 , 2026

Brewed Buck Stays Calm, But Not Idle. Stability Mirrors Discipline, Not Necessarily Liquidity

The Birr (Brewed Buck) spent the six days to April 25 doing what often passes for calm in the official foreign exchange market. It barely moved. More than a month after the National Bank of Ethiopia ...

Apr 19 , 2026

In the Forex Market, Stability Masks a Lack of Competition

Last week, the Brewed Buck neither strengthened nor weakened in any meaningful sense. It inched along a carefully managed path, its value against the dollar shaped as much by policy design as by marke...

Apr 5 , 2026

Forex Market Looks Stable But Tightly Managed

The striking feature of the official foreign-exchange market last week was not movement, but restraint. The notable non-news development of recent weeks was that lull. Governor Eyob Tekalegn (PhD) ref...

Mar 28 , 2026

Birr Holds Steady as the Foreign Currency Market Splinters

The Birr (Brewed BucK) looked calm on the surface last week. The week opened with the Central Bank posting the highest buy quote, but it closed with Oromia Bank as the most aggressive commercial bi...

Mar 21 , 2026

Brewed Buck Takes a Small Tumble, the Banks Show Their Feathers

The Birr's (Brewed Buck) official retail market spent last week moving less like a freely shifting market than a carefully managed crawl lower. Across 30 banks, the average buying rate trailed from...

Mar 14 , 2026

Dollar Quotes Rise by Inches as Banks Keep Margins in Line

The foreign-exchange market crept forward last week, but behind the drift, the demand for hard currency and the contest for confidence grew. Between March 9 and March 14, 2026, every commercial bank e...

Mar 7 , 2026

Brewed Buck Slips Quietly as Banks' Forex Boards Split Wide

The Brewed Buck barely moved over the five weeks to March 7, 2026, yet the stillness on the surface concealed a market growing more uneven by the day. Banks' average posted buying rate for the doll...


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