Birr little changed at 159.01/USD official; parallel premium near 13% as ESX holds flat
Official birr held near flat at 159.01/USD sell, up 0.06%, while the parallel rate sat at 179.87 — a premium of about 13.1%. ESX banks were quiet, with Wegagen the lone mover at 1,190 birr.
FX
The official USD/ETB rate barely moved, closing at 157.4331 buy / 159.0074 sell, up 0.06% on the day. The parallel rate held at 179.87 (buy and sell), giving a premium of about 13.1% over the official sell rate. Among today's pairs, GBP/ETB was the biggest mover at 0.21% (212.6921 / 214.8190), with CNY/ETB up 0.14% and JPY/ETB the only decliner at -0.01%.
Macro
Headline inflation stands at 11.7% YoY (sheet change: 2.3pp), with food inflation at 13.5% and non-food at 9.1%, all as of 2026-05-07. The sheet's tracked FX gap (parallel vs official) reads 12% as of 2026-05-08, broadly in line with the ~13.1% premium implied by today's quotes.
ESX
Data as of 2026-05-14 — today's session not yet in. The bank board was nearly frozen: Wegagen Bank (WGBX) was the lone gainer, edging up 0.36% to 1,190.00 birr. Awash Bank (AWAB) held at 3,000.00 (up 0.14%), Gadaa Bank (GDAB) flat at 1,100.00, and the Interbank Money Market (IBMM) flat at 12.00. No ticker posted a daily loss.
Watch
- The US lifted its arms embargo on Ethiopia (2026-05-14) following talks in Washington between FM Gedion Timothewos and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a notable shift in bilateral relations.
- Ethiopia earned over 8.7 billion USD from exports in the first 10 months of the fiscal year (2026-05-14), with officials citing an improved investment climate.
- Ethiopia and France signed a 54.6 million euro concessional loan to modernize the national grid (2026-05-13), part of the wider 270 million euro RISED programme.
- ESX admitted First Addis Investment Bank and Siinqee Investment Bank as trading members (2026-05-11) and wrapped its second regional capital-market roadshow (2026-05-12), broadening the market's reach.