{"id":838425,"date":"2026-10-29T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838425"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:00:00","slug":"banks-shut-or-out-of-cash-in-parts-of-shewa-and-wollo-as-war-grinds-on-residents-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838425","title":{"rendered":"Banks shut or out of cash in parts of Shewa and Wollo as war grinds on, residents say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents of towns in Shewa, South Wollo and North Wollo say banks have closed or stopped paying out cash, leaving farmers and traders unable to buy and sell as the Amhara war continues.<\/p>\n

The complaints were collected by DW Amharic, which spoke this week with people in several towns where the federal Gov't and Fano forces have been fighting for control. The war between the two sides has gone on for three years, the broadcaster noted, cooling at times and then flaring again, and the people living in the contested areas now say the shortage of cash has become one of the hardest parts of daily life.<\/p>\n

In Wegere, a town in the Menz Lalo Mider area of Shewa, a resident told DW that the bank is closed and that there is no other bank. "Because the bank is closed, they say bring cash. But there is no cash, there is no bank, it is only transfer," the resident said. Farmers, the resident added, do not use transfers, which leaves them with no way to trade. The same was true in nearby Zemero, and in Mehal Meda, the main town of Menz, there is no banking service either, the resident said. "Unless they agree with the Gov't and start it for us, the bank is in trouble."<\/p>\n

In Wegdi district of South Wollo, banks are open but customers cannot take out more than about 500 birr in cash from their own accounts, a resident who asked not to be named told DW. "There is a shortage of cash. People have nothing," the resident said. "The bank works, but when you go to the bank they give you 500 birr or so." People, the resident said, now survive by borrowing from each other.<\/p>\n

In Muja, the main town of Gidan district in North Wollo, there is no Gov't administration, according to DW, but the bank has continued to operate. Residents said it does not hand out cash, only transfers money from account to account. "Those who have an account trade through transfers. Those who do not have one ask traders for cash," one resident said, adding that the effect of the conflict is well known: "It is hunger."<\/p>\n

The problem is similar in Degolo, the main town of Jama district in South Wollo. A resident told DW that traders sometimes smuggle cash from Dessie or Addis Ababa, hidden and tied together with goods, and that on some days a bank might give a customer one thousand birr if a trader has brought money in. Grain and livestock traders struggle most, the resident said, because farmers want cash when they sell. In Wegel Tena, the main town of Delanta district, a resident said banks give out only one or two thousand birr and shut their doors whenever control of the town changes hands. "Now you take from a trader you know," the resident said.<\/p>\n

Mereja could not independently confirm the closures or the withdrawal limits. Mereja found no public statement by the National Bank of Ethiopia or the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia about the closures, and DW did not report a response from the banks or the regional government.<\/p>\n

DW Amharic has also reported repeated drone strikes in North Wollo and South Wollo in recent weeks, including in Wegdi.<\/p>\n

Mereja has asked the National Bank of Ethiopia, the Government Communication Service and the Amhara regional government to confirm whether branches in these towns have been closed or restricted, whether any cash limit has been imposed, and when normal service will return. None of them had responded by publication time.<\/p>\n

For now, residents told DW, people in these towns are getting by trading among themselves. "It has become difficult," the Muja resident said.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n