{"id":276318,"date":"2019-05-18T03:19:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T07:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXJlcG9ydGVyZXRoaW9waWEuY29tL2FydGljbGUvY2VudHJhbC1iYW5rLWRpcmVjdGl2ZS1mcnVzdHJhdGVzLW9pbC1jb21wYW5pZXPSAQA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-09-20T11:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T15:27:34","slug":"national-bank-directive-told-foreign-oil-firms-to-keep-foreign-currency-accounts-inside-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/276318","title":{"rendered":"National Bank directive told foreign oil firms to keep foreign-currency accounts inside Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In May 2019 The Reporter described a National Bank of Ethiopia directive that ordered foreign oil and gas explorers to open and keep foreign-currency accounts inside Ethiopian commercial banks under central-bank supervision.<\/p>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-468257\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Ethiopias-Banking-Sector-Faces-Challenges-in-Welcoming-Foreign-Investment.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"National Bank directive told foreign oil firms to keep foreign-currency accounts inside Ethiopia\" \/>\n<p>Companies told the paper they had long used offshore accounts and then moved money into local birr accounts to pay for exploration. They said the new rule would not fix Ethiopia\u2019s foreign-currency shortage and would make it harder to finance projects or get loans from foreign lenders.<\/p>\n<p>Mines and Petroleum Minister Samuel Hurkato said the firms wanted to keep offshore accounts while the central bank wanted money parked under Ethiopian oversight. Weeks later Abiy Ahmed\u2019s office allowed offshore accounts again after the ministry and the firms appealed, and concession talks that had stalled began to move.<\/p>\n<p>Kept as FX and energy archive, the episode shows how tightly managed foreign exchange rules shaped oil investment under Abiy Ahmed\u2019s early reform years, and how quickly a banking directive could freeze or restart field work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/8000\/\">The Reporter Ethiopia<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Central Bank directive frustrates oil companies&nbsp;&nbsp;The Reporter EthiopiaA directive issued by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) requesting foreign oil companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and development projects in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":468257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Ethiopias-Banking-Sector-Faces-Challenges-in-Welcoming-Foreign-Investment.jpg?fit=1280%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-19SK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754813,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276318\/revisions\/754813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}