The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has issued a directive requiring all commercial banks to use indicative import price benchmarks set by the Ethiopian Customs Commission when processing foreign exchange (FX) transactions related to selected imported goods, Letters of Credit (LCs) issuance and other approved import permits, effective from 27 January 2026.
The measure addresses a pricing problem following the Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024, introduced in July 2024. This transitioned Ethiopia’s FX regime to a market‑clearing system. Under that reform, banks were permitted to negotiate FX rates with customers and the prior minimum pricing rule for imports was eliminated, requiring banks to undertake price verification. However, the NBE has observed discrepancies between prices banks used based on LCs and reference prices used by customs authorities.
The new alignment of bank pricing with customs benchmarks should reduce valuation mismatches and promote greater import valuation uniformity, sharpen trade finance risk assessment and pricing discipline, while reinforcing lenders’ due diligence. Although banks can still negotiate FX rates with clients, customs prices will now act as reference benchmarks.
