NOTICE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE AUCTION NO. 4

16 April 2025 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The National Bank of Ethiopia, in line with its recent commitment to conduct a regular series of bi-weekly foreign exchange auctions and consistent with its price and external stability objectives, hereby announces that the next foreign exchange auction will be held tomorrow, Thursday, April 17, 2025.

Interested banks are invited to submit their bids in line with the guidance specified below.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) hereby announces the results of the Foreign Exchange Auction held today.

The weighted average rate of all successful bids was Birr 131.7095 per US Dollar and a total of 12 banks received foreign exchange allocations under the auction.

The next Foreign Exchange Auction will be conducted by NBE in two weeks and an announcement of the specific date and time will be made public one day prior to the auction date.

The National Bank of Ethiopia hereby announces that it will be starting a regular series of foreign exchange auctions to be held every two weeks. The auctions will be conducted over a period of several months and are intended to ensure continued stability in Ethiopia’s foreign exchange market.

Since the launch of a comprehensive program of macroeconomic reforms in July 2024, Ethiopia’s balance of payments position has been showing steady and significant improvement, thanks to rising exports, increased remittances, and higher capital inflows. FX reserves at the central bank have reached record levels. In recent months, in particular, the delivery of record high gold supplies to the NBE (which is the sole authorized gold exporter in the country) has boosted the central bank’s gold holdings and increased the level of foreign exchange reserves above initial expectations.

In light of this higher-than-expected foreign exchange position, the NBE has decided to conduct an on-going series of bi-weekly foreign exchange auctions over the coming months.  This operation will be providing the private sector with some portion of the foreign exchange accumulation that has been taking place at the central bank and will also aid in helping NBE meet its monetary policy objectives.

Interested banks are invited to submit their bids in the time frame and manner specified below.

Amount of FX Auction: $50 million

FX Auction Date:Tuesday April 1, 2025

Email submission: fxauction@nbe.gov.et

Bid Submission Period: 10am to 12noon

Bid Results Announcement: 3pm

Settlement: End of day April 1, 2025

The National Bank of Ethiopia Concludes Special Foreign Exchange Auction The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) hereby announces the results of the Special Foreign Exchange Auction held today, February 25, 2025.

The Special FX Auction saw the participation of 27 banks. The weighted average rate of all successful bids was Birr 135.6185 per US Dollar.

The National Bank of Ethiopia welcomed the large number of participation in the auction and noted that the central bank may conduct additional foreign exchange sales if warranted and consistent with its price and external stability objectives.

The National Bank of Ethiopia hereby announces that it will be conducting a Special Foreign Exchange Auction on February 25, 2025.  The auction will be in the amount of $60 million and is open for participation by all banks.

Following the comprehensive macroeconomic reform program launched in July 2024, Ethiopia’s balance of payments position has been showing steady and significant improvement, thanks to rising exports, remittances, and capital inflows. In recent months, in particular, the delivery of record high gold supplies to the NBE (which is the sole authorized gold exporter in the country) has boosted the central bank’s gold stocks and increased the level of foreign exchange reserves above NBE’s initial expectations.

While higher-than-expected foreign exchange inflows are a welcome and positive outcome of the reform, it is important that they do not undermine the central bank’s targets for monetary growth and inflation. Accordingly, in order to help offset what could potentially become excessive monetary growth and considering also the central bank’s higher-than-expected foreign exchange position, the NBE has decided to conduct a sale of foreign exchange funds to the banking system. This operation will ensure that the current prudent monetary stance is maintained and improve FX market liquidity by providing the private sector with some portion of the higher-than-expected foreign exchange accumulation currently taking place at the central bank.

The NBE will closely monitor market developments over the coming weeks and may, if warranted, conduct additional foreign exchange sales as part of meeting its price and external stability objectives.

Interested banks are invited to submit their bids in the time frame and manner specified below.

NBE Concludes Special FX auction with a weighted average rate of Birr 107.9 per USD

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) hereby announces the results of the Special Foreign Exchange Auction held today August 7, 2024.  

The Special FX Auction saw the participation of 27 banks. The weighted average rate of all successful bids was Birr 107.9 per US Dollar. Per NBE’s daily practice of updating exchange rates based on FX market activity in the banking system, transactions conducted under today’s auction will be reflected in the Indicative Daily Exchange Rate posted tomorrow August 8, 2024.

NBE Governor Mamo Mihretu made the following statement following the announcement of the auction results: “We are pleased to see a substantial narrowing of the gap between bank exchange rates and parallel market rates over the past week, as well as meaningful progress towards exchange rate stability. This is precisely what our macroeconomic reforms intended to achieve—namely to ensure that most FX transaction activity can shift to the banking system, thereby helping both exporters bringing in foreign exchange as well as the many companies and entrepreneurs seeking foreign exchange.”

The Governor also welcomed the encouraging growth seen in the volume of FX transaction and noted: “We are also pleased to see a growing number of banks making foreign exchange available to their customers by approving past import requests and accepting new import requests; we anticipate and indeed expect more banks will follow this trend over the coming weeks and that they will do so with increasingly larger FX volumes.”

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) hereby announces that it will be conducting a Special Foreign Exchange Auction on August 7, 2024. Depending on market conditions, additional foreign exchange auctions may be conducted over the coming weeks.

Interested banks are invited to submit their bids to the Foreign Exchange Monitoring and Reserve Management Directorate (FEMRMD) at the National Bank of Ethiopia between 10am and 12 noon on August 7, 2024. The submission of auction bids shall include: (1) the volume of US dollars being requested, and (2) the offer price, expressed as Birr per USD, at which a bank is willing to purchase the availed US dollars. Bids shall be sent to the following email (fxauction@nbe.gov.et) by a duly authorized bank official.

Successful banks will be sold US dollars at the bid price they have offered and no bank will be provided more than 20 percent of the total funds made available at the auction. Banks are required to settle their purchase on the same day as the auction date. The weighted average bid price of all successful bids will be announced by 3pm on August 7, 2024.