More on economic policy

In a bid to tackle recent food inflation, the Government has waivered all import duties on wheat, sugar and edible oils. This is step in the right direction in addressing the people’s main concern in recent months, soaring prices for basic food stuffs. Furthermore, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has just done a u-turn by reverting the decision to not allow Asset Based Collateral Loans for Importers, acknowledging that the restrictions imposed a couple of weeks’ ago would have adversely impacted the Government’s inflation busting policies. This is a boost to those Coffee Exporters that also own import businesses.

Asking prices from shippers remain all over the place, but generally speaking they seem to be coming a off a little, probably because recent high asking prices have failed to attract business. In addition, stakeholders are starting to feel the pressure to dispose of their stocks (if they have any) as the new crop is round the corner and NBE is tightening monetary policy, restricting imports of nonessential goods and materials. However, availability is scarce, you really get the feeling that there is little coffee around.

Although the war feels far way from Addis, fighting in the North of the country is intense and spreading to Amhara and Afar regions. Please follow the link for the BBC’s latest assessment: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58450223

Covid situation in Ethiopia has recently been quite bad but it would appear that the country is starting to recover after a 3rd wave of infections. Each wave has been worse than the previous one and vaccination rates are way below what we have in Europe and other Northern hemisphere countries.

Weather remains favourable for the upcoming crop with some picking in the lower lying coffee growing areas to start still in September.

The local currency devalued 2.5% in the last month vs the USD.

Birr 44.67 = USD 1