Central Bank Announces FX Auction Dates for 1Q, Allocates $500m

The National Bank Ethiopia (NBE) has prepared USD 500 dollars to inject into the banking system in the first quarter of the new financial year . The Central Bank made the USD 500 allocations public on Wednesday while announcing its quarterly Foreign Exchange Auction schedule for the 2026/27 fiscal year. Four Foreign-currency auctions of USD 125 million offering each have been scheduled during the first quarter of the new fiscal year that began in July. The Central Bank said the FX auctions will be conducted every two weeks, starting from August 2, 2026. The other three USD 125 million auctions are slated for August 26, Sept 09 and Sept 23, 2026, per NBE’s schedule. The allocated amount is relatively higher than the previous FX trading in which the Central Bank offered $100 million.  The National Bank operates the FX sales auction periodically, aiming to boost foreign currency supply in the banking system, and meet its price and external stability objectives. The previous auction – held on June 24 – saw more than a dozen commercial banks submit bids totaling more than $160 million, significantly higher than the fund on offer. The weighted average exchange rate for successful bids in that auction was 157 birr per dollar. The highest bid was 157 birr per Birr per dollar, while the lowest was 152 Birr. Nine commercial banks received the 100 million dollar allotted by the NBE, out of the 14 total banks participated in the bidding.