National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has slightly amended its forex directive, which it promulgated a year ago. When the directive came out a year ago it was aimed to allocate and manage foreign exchange (forex) in a transparent and sound manner. The directive came to effect on March 20, 2017.

The amendment modifies the way application registration is reported to the central bank. The amendment requires banks to send foreign currency application registration and approval detail as per the attached format through a secured email address to be notified by NBE. The directive requires this to be done every week and that a copy of pro-forma invoice to be attached.

The previous directive did not require banks to send pro-forma invoices along with their weekly update to the central bank.

In addition to this, the new directive also gives clarification on priority sectors which are given primary access of forex. According to The Reporter, import of fuel, motor oil, lubricants, LGP gas, pharmaceutical products and fertilizers will continue to be prioritized.

Other than these, the directive stipulates in a detailed manner that spare parts for construction machineries that would be used by the construction companies themselves, whose total value does not exceeding USD 50,000, will also be given priority.

Source: The Reporter