Ethiopia's new foreign-exchange rules for exporters

Since 29 July 2024, payment for Ethiopian exports has been governed by the National Bank of Ethiopia's Foreign Exchange Directive FXD/01/2024. For a foreign buyer of gemstones, it leaves three ways to pay: in advance, cash against documents, or a letter of credit. Three amendments have followed. Only FXD/04/2026, in force since 12 February 2026, changes anything on the buyer's side: someone else abroad can now pay in advance on your behalf, and an advance can be identified by its invoice or contract number.

The three ways to pay

The directive also allows consignment and open account, but it limits consignment to perishable goods and open account to e-commerce or cases the National Bank approves. That leaves these three for a parcel of gemstones.

• Advance payment. You wire the money before shipment. The exporter's bank issues the export permit from the branch that received the funds, and only up to the amount received. The credit advice is valid for one year, for export or refund. Because you have already paid, the air waybill may name you or your agent.
• Cash against documents. The goods ship first, and the shipping documents are released to you when you pay at sight, or when you accept a time draft. The money must reach Ethiopia within 90 days of the export permit. One permit is capped at USD 500,000 unless the National Bank approves more case by case. The air waybill is made out to the order of a bank.
• Letter of credit. Your bank opens a credit that is advised through a bank in Ethiopia. At sight, it must be irrevocable or confirmed. On acceptance, it must be irrevocable and confirmed, with a term of no more than 60 days that fits inside the 90-day repatriation period. The air waybill is again made out to a bank's order.

Repatriation

No one in Ethiopia may export goods without prior approval from an authorised bank, and the bank is responsible for making sure the proceeds come home. The directive requires them to arrive before the export, at the time of export, or within three months. Capital reported in December 2025 that exporters can ask for three more months with justification, and that the National Bank had given exporters who had not brought their earnings home a final warning to do so. What the exporter then does with the currency is between the exporter and its bank and does not change what you pay.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• FXD/03/2025, in force 20 May 2025. Changed the limits on import advance payments and on foreign exchange for travel. Nothing in it concerns a buyer paying an Ethiopian exporter.
• FXD/04/2026, in force 12 February 2026. Under the 2024 text, an advance-payment export permit was issued in the name of the remitter only. Now an exporter can accept an advance sent by any party abroad, as long as the sender and the buyer show the bank an agreement that the sender is paying on the buyer's behalf, and the exporter accepts its terms. A wire counts as an advance if it is marked "Advance payment for future export", or if it states the goods, the invoice number or the contract number; the 2024 text tied the second option to National Bank approval. The amendment also lets banks offer forward exchange rates.
• FXD/05/2026, in force 25 May 2026. Lets Ethiopian banks approve letters of credit and cash against documents on acceptance for importers without prior National Bank approval. It amends the import rules; the export terms above are unchanged.

Paying Maedot

We take payment by international wire to our account at an Ethiopian commercial bank, under these rules, and we handle the export documents, shipping and insurance. If someone other than you will send the payment, or you want to discuss documentary terms, ask us before arranging it.

Sources

• National Bank of Ethiopia, “Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024”, articles 6 and 7 and Annex One, in force 29 July 2024
• National Bank of Ethiopia, “Amendment to Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024”, Directive FXD/03/2025, in force 20 May 2025
• National Bank of Ethiopia, “Amendment to Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024”, Directive FXD/04/2026, in force 12 February 2026
• National Bank of Ethiopia, “Amendment to Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024”, Directive FXD/05/2026, in force 25 May 2026
• Capital, “NBE issues ultimatum to exporters over unrepatriated foreign exchange”, 7 December 2025