No less than 27 commercial banks took part in the National Bank of Ethiopia’s Special Foreign Exchange Auction earlier today, with the weighted average of successful bids landing at 107.9 birr per US dollar.
The figure is around six birr greater than the current buying rates offered at most commercial banks, and 15 percent higher than the rate offered by the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).
The auction was the first of its kind following the liberalization of the forex market less than two weeks ago as part of a macroeconomic reform program under the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD).
The birr has lost two-thirds of its value on the formal market, while the parallel market rate has remained steady at around 115 birr per USD.
“We are pleased to see a substantial narrowing of the gap between the bank exchange rates and parallel market rates over the past week,” reads a statement from NBE Governor Mamo Mihretu. “This is precisely what our macroeconomic reforms intended to achieve.”
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#Central #Banks #Forex #Auction #Finds #Dollar #Rate #Birr
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