ETHIOPIA: Changes in Forex Regulations & more – 22nd May 2025

Salaam salaam from BA! This is the Rorshok Ethiopia Update from the 22nd of May twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Ethiopia.

The National Bank of Ethiopia announced in a statement on Tuesday the 20th that it has made several regulatory changes to the foreign exchange market.

People travelling abroad usually complain about how hard it is to purchase foreign currency from commercial banks. However, this is going to change because the National Bank has raised the cap to ten thousand US dollars for personal travels, while business travellers will be able to buy up to fifteen thousand US dollars from commercial banks. Importers will also be glad to hear that advance payment limits have been raised from five to fifty thousand US dollars.

The Bank made these changes because the formal foreign exchange market has brought in a lot of foreign currency since the National Bank decided to float the Birr, letting market forces determine its value instead of the government

About a year from now, Ethiopia will hold its general election. Last week, we mentioned that some parties are not satisfied with the National Election Board’s preparation, or rather the lack of it, for the upcoming election.

On Friday the 16th, the Board issued a statement, but not directly in response to the parties, saying that it has begun the second round of digitally mapping and registering polling stations across four regions. In the next two weeks, the Board will start mapping in four more regions. It said that digital mapping will modernize the election process and make it more efficient.

In other news, the government’s representative presented a draft bill to parliament to allow foreigners to own immovable property. He explained that the bill will help attract foreign investors and encourage them to stay and invest in the Ethiopian economy.

The bill states that aside from attracting investment, it will also drive the growth of the real estate sector. It also indicates that the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure Development will issue directives prohibiting citizens of certain foreign countries from acquiring immovable property, even though the nations haven’t been determined yet.

Certain House members were not happy with this development. They called the bill untimely and said it disregards the adverse effects on citizens. According to a House member, allowing foreigners to buy immovable property will push prices higher, leaving Ethiopians unable to compete with foreign investors bringing in foreign currency. Despite concerns, the bill will likely pass.

On another note, on Monday the 19th, the Dialogue Commission, the Ethiopian Press Agency, and the Election Board, each presented to the House Standing Committee on Plan, Budget and Finance Affairs, the increased budget they will need for the next fiscal year.

The Standing Committee’s chair didn’t like what he saw, and he urged the Dialogue Commission and the Election Board to efficiently use the allocated budget and find other sources of funds. He also didn’t consider their presentation complete. The representatives of the Board and the Commission explained that the amount they requested seemed high to Committee members because they’re planning to expand and digitalize their operations.

Going back to bills, the Amhara region’s Supreme Court revealed this past week that it has drafted one to re-establish the region’s public defenders’ office as a standalone institution. The office has been under the region’s Supreme Court, which the Court believes shouldn’t be the case since public defenders litigate before the Court as well, raising questions on impartiality.

The Court’s President said he expects the draft bill to be presented to the region’s Council for further deliberation and approval.

The judiciary of the Tigray region was also in the news this week as the region’s interim administration said it is committed to restoring order in the court system. The statement comes after a recent incident in court where some people disrupted the proceedings of a criminal case that has piqued public interest.

The altercation in the courtroom led several courts in the region to close their doors as judges feared for their safety. The interim administration said interference with judicial independence and inciting riots is unacceptable, adding that it will crack down on perpetrators to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

In an update to a story from our previous show, the President of the Health Professionals’ Association, who had been arrested upon the strike of healthcare workers, was released on Monday the 19th. After his release, he explained that he was arrested because the government feared social media posts he was sharing would escalate and threaten peace and stability.

He added that the requests of health professionals for better pay and benefits have been longstanding and the recent protests don’t have ulterior motives except urging the government to help improve the lives of health care workers. Some professionals haven’t shown up to work since the strike took place.

More news on health, as at an event held on Thursday the 15th and Friday the 16th, to commemorate its thirtieth anniversary, the Surgical Society of Ethiopia said that the number of surgeons in the country will fall.

Speaking at the event, a surgeon explained that the country has more surgeons than ever before but that most of them are concentrated in urban areas. He added that interest in the field is going down, with medical students preferring to specialize in other areas. According to another surgeon, brain drain is also a threat to the field, citing the experience of low-income countries that had their surgeons leave abroad for better pay and benefits.

Meanwhile, the country has paid a lot in foreign currency to buy and bring in fertilizers. However, Indian company Allied says it can help Ethiopia reduce the amount of fertilizers it imports with its recently finished fertilizer manufacturing plant in Adama, in the Oromia region, in the central part of the country.

According to the company, once it begins operation, it will produce about seventy-five thousand metric tons, but this is not very significant compared with the country’s demand, estimated at almost two and a half million metric tons.

Hua-Jian, another company from Asia, this one from China, said it’s going to expand its investments in Ethiopia. The company has been producing and exporting leather products and shoes but wants to diversify by assembling electric vehicles of the JAC brand and selling them to the local market. To do so, the company will increase its investments in the country from its current hundred and fifty million US dollars to two billion.

Chinese companies are major investors in the Ethiopian market. Just last week, at an investment forum, they signed deals with the Ethiopian Investment Commission worth a total of one point six billion US dollars.

China and Ethiopia cooperate in various fields. The medical aid team of China’s army headed to Ethiopia this week for a year-long mission to help its Ethiopian counterpart. The Ministry said this is the biggest ever team, consisting of fourteen military doctors.

These doctors will support the Ethiopian armed forces general hospital in various areas including clinical medicine, medical tech and logistics. Over the past ten years, the Chinese Army’s Medical University has sent more than a hundred military medical experts to Ethiopia for the same purpose.

And to wrap up this episode, Ethio Telecom and the Ministry of Transportation have teamed up to build an app that customers of cross-country transportation services can use to buy tickets. Customers will now be able to buy a digital ticket using Telebirr, Ethio Telecom’s superapp.

This, however, did not sit well with service providers. They admit that the app is convenient but they think it excludes those who can’t read and write. Some of them added that it also leaves out users of the other telecom service provider, Safaricom, because the app only works with an Ethio Telecom SIM card.

The State Minister of Transport said they shouldn’t worry because the app will get consistent updates to become more user-friendly and accessible to those who can’t read or write. Additionally, people can also buy their physical tickets at ticket offices if they can’t use Telebirr.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Did you know that we do lots of other updates? We’ve got country updates and non-county updates, including the Arctic Update, the Multilateral Update, and the Ocean Update.

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Ciao!