Ethiopia's Reserves Nearly Tripled to 5.6bn Dollars, Governor Says

Ethiopia's foreign exchange reserves have risen from about 2 billion dollars in 2023 to roughly 5.6 billion dollars in 2025, National Bank of Ethiopia Governor Eyob Tekalign (PhD) said, crediting the government's market-based foreign exchange overhaul with rebuilding the country's external buffers.

Nearly three times the starting point

A move from 2 billion to 5.6 billion dollars is a 2.8-fold increase over two years, and it is the clearest number yet attached to the reform that floated the birr. Reserves are the measure the reform was always going to be judged on: the case for letting the exchange rate find a market level was that it would pull hard currency out of the parallel market and into the formal banking system, where the central bank could hold it.

On the governor's figures, that is what has happened.

What the figure does and does not settle

Reserve cover is an import-months question, not an absolute one. 5.6 billion dollars is a number whose meaning depends entirely on the import bill it has to cover and the external payments falling due against it — neither of which the governor's remarks address. A reserve stock rebuilt partly through inflows that can reverse is a different thing from one rebuilt through export earnings.

The direction, though, is not in dispute, and it is the direction that matters for anyone waiting on a letter of credit. A central bank with three times the reserves it had two years ago is a central bank with more room to clear the queue of importers waiting for allocations.

Open

The governor did not give the composition of the reserves, the months of import cover they represent, or how much of the build-up came from export receipts, remittances, loans or grants. The figures are quoted as of 2025; no 2026 position has been published alongside them.

Sources: Birr Metrics, 2 October 2026