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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...

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...


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, while average selling prices were near 134.60 Br. Most banks barely budged from those levels, signalling a conservative posture that industry observers say reflected either regulatory guidance or plain caution. Outliers, however, told a different story. Oromia Bank, yet again, set the pace at the high end, posting an average selling rate of 134.73 Br, far above the industry's average and th...


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, tweaking their posted rates in ways that exposed the conflicting pressures on the Birr (Brewed Buck), caught between market reality and regulatory restraint. The state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), usually the pace-setter, delivered the week's biggest jolt. On Wednesday, it lifted its buying quote to 131.01 Br to the Dollar from 128.01 the day before, a jump of almost three Birr, wh...

Money Market Watch

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...

Apr 19 , 2025

Birr Wobbles While Central Bank Whispers as Young Banks Break the Old Rules

Touting what they call an “all-time high” stock of foreign exchange reserves, officials of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) unleashed firepower to steady the Birr (Brewed Buck). They may not re...

Apr 13 , 2025

Diverging Forex Rates Expose Liquidity Strains, Policy Inertia

The financial sector is experiencing sharp divisions among commercial banks as the Birr continues to depreciate rapidly against the U.S. Dollar. This widening gap reveals sharp differences between cau...

Apr 6 , 2025

Banks Bid Low Confidence as Brewed Buck Burns

The Birr (Brewed Buck) continued its slide against the U.S. Dollar (the Green Buck) last week, underlining pressures in a foreign exchange market still adjusting to recent policy shifts and ongoing ec...

Mar 30 , 2025

As the Birr Slips, Banks Maneuver Quietly While Policy Stands Still

The Birr (Brewed Buck) edged slightly to stability against the U.S. Dollar (Green Buck) last week, revealing modest shifts in a market often characterised by subtle moves rather than dramatic swings....

Mar 23 , 2025

CBE Fixed Rate Defies Market Trends as Private Banks Jostle for Scarce Forex

While most commercial banks slightly adjusted their exchange rates upward last week, the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has kept its buying rate fixed at 124 Birr for a dollar for nearl...

Mar 16 , 2025

Hijira, Lion Banks Push Limits as Brewed Buck Slips 2.1pc against the Dollar

An escalating divergence in the foreign exchange market is rattling confidence in the Birr, (Brewed Buck), as banks aggressively compete amid acute shortages of foreign currency. Despite recent interv...

Mar 9 , 2025

Banks Scramble for Dollars at Auctions, Shortchange Buyers on the Forex Market

The widening gap in foreign exchange rates among commercial banks fuelled tension in the forex market last week, as banks maneuvered to attract hard currency on the most favorable terms. Private banks...

Mar 2 , 2025

Forex Auctions Struggle to Stem Birrs Slide as Dollar Demand Surges

Monetary authorities moved to show their firepower last week, floating a special foreign exchange auction on February 25, 2025, offering 60 million dollars to commercial banks. “The auction follo...

Feb 23 , 2025

Birr Takes a Beating as Central Bank Sets Record Highs in Forex Market

It is official. The formal forex market has the private big five banks — Awash, Abyssinia, Dashen, Wegagen, and Zemen — offering buying rates for a dollar last week that exceeded the “psychologi...

Feb 16 , 2025

Hijira Bank Bets Big, Birr Shrinks Further, While Central Bank Watches

Hijira Bank startled the foreign exchange market last week, posting a buying rate of 126.2 Br for a dollar, outpacing every other commercial bank and setting a 2.19 Br premium over the state-owned Com...

Feb 9 , 2025

Hijira's Premium, Zemen's Bold Bet Enticing Forex Market

Last week, Hijira Bank posted a buying rate of 126.5 Br to the dollar, marking what industry observers described as a historic milestone. In an even more striking move, the Bank also offered the most...


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