35 Billion USD reportedly lost in the past 27 years

Ethiopia has lost more than 35 billion dollars within the past 27 years. Illicit financial outflow from the country over the past 27 years totals one trillion eighty billion birr. This demonstrates that the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Finance Intelligence Center, responsible for the management of foreign currency, haven’t been doing their work. Some macroeconomics professionals expressed extreme frustration with these two organizations and stated that if this problem is not solved, the country may not even stand as a country. Dr. Eyob Tesfaye, a macroeconomist, and consultant explained how illicit financial flow is pulled off through the miss-invoicing of materials during transactions. Studies show that some investors in Ethiopia, who claim to be patriots, collaborate with exporters and heartlessly sell imported materials profiting 200-1000 fold. While exporters also sell their product for large amounts and invoice only a small piece keeping the rest of the money in foreign banks. Construction companies are especially known for taking commission by faking the price of materials. Ethiopia has lost 1.5 billion dollars each year through illicit financial flow since 2012 only. This is a big cause for the endless cycle of devaluations of the Ethiopian Birr.