Where Ethiopia stopped opening its foreign exchange rules

A person in Ethiopia may send up to USD 3,000 abroad to support family, on an application justifying the case, under an amendment in force since 12 February 2026. The proceeds of a house or an inheritance are a separate question with a separate answer, because they fall under article 16.1, which the reforms have left alone. Ethiopia has spent two years taking its foreign exchange rules apart in public, and this is where the taking apart stops.

Key Takeaways

• Directive No. FXD/04/2026, in force 12 February 2026, entitles resident Ethiopians to transfer up to USD 3,000 abroad for subsistence family support, on an application justifying the case.
• The same amendment allows banks to release up to USD 20,000 per case in advance for medical and educational services, without visa and ticket requirements.
• It carries nineteen numbered amendments to the 2024 directive, and article 16.1 is not among them.
• Article 16.1 still provides that capital account transactions by residents are not permitted and that banks shall not effect such capital transfers without the National Bank's authorisation.
• The exceptions to that article belong to foreign investments registered by the National Bank or the Investment Commission, so the proceeds of a house or an inheritance are not among them.

The two documents that govern this

Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024 took effect on 29 July 2024. It consolidated and repealed the directives that came before it, and article 5 delivered the headline change: banks and authorised dealers buy and sell foreign currency from and to their clients, and among themselves, at freely negotiated rates.

Directive No. FXD/04/2026 amends it, and came into force on 12 February 2026. It is a short instrument, nineteen numbered amendments plus two free-standing articles, and its preamble says what it is for: relaxing foreign currency account opening, crediting and utilisation, allowing forward dealings, and allowing outward investment.

Reading the second against the first is how to know what applies now, and the order the two follow is the ordinary one for lifting capital controls.

How much a person may now send abroad

The first row is the one that answers most questions asked about this corridor. The 2024 directive named no such figure. This one is modest, and the entitlement is expressed as an amount released on an application justifying the case. The directive does not say whether that is once, once a year or once per occasion, and neither does the Bank's notice, so the frequency is a question for the bank taking the application.

Where the line between the two accounts falls

The 2024 directive divides transactions the way the balance of payments does. Article 2.16 defines current account transactions as those involving visible trade, invisible trade, transfers whether private or public, and factor income flows from labour or capital. Article 2.11 defines capital account transactions as inflows and outflows of capital that directly affect a resident's foreign asset or liability position.

Every relaxation in the table above sits on the current-account side of that line, with one exception. Article 4 of the amendment does reach the capital account, and it reaches it for Ethiopian entities, case by case, on the National Bank's approval. The capital-account side is otherwise Part Six of the 2024 directive, and it opens with article 16.1, which calls the National Bank by its initials:

Unless explicitly authorized by NBE, capital account transactions by residents shall not be permitted and banks shall not effect such capital transfers except under the specific exceptions and requirements stipulated below.

Two prohibitions in one sentence, and one door left open. Residents may not do it, and banks may not do it, subject to the exceptions and to the National Bank explicitly authorising the transfer, for which the directive publishes no criteria. The second limb is the operative one for any actual payment, because it is a bank that would have to execute the transfer whoever the money belongs to.

The exceptions, and who they were written for

Article 16.2 lists what may be repatriated, and the condition is in its opening words. Foreign investments registered by the National Bank, the Ethiopia Investment Commission or another pertinent government organ may repatriate, on the National Bank's approval:

• profit and dividends from the investment;
• the proceeds of a sale or liquidation of an enterprise;
• the proceeds of a transfer of shares or of ownership;
• the return of an investment unable to start operating;
• profits from portfolio investment in equity or debt securities.

Article 16.3 sets out seven documents for the first of those, and one of them decides everything: a capital registration letter from the National Bank or the investment authority that registered the investment. The 2026 amendment changes who signs the request off, not who qualifies. Banks may now approve the remittance themselves, against those documents and an undertaking that the amount does not exceed the profit earned in the period, and report the transactions to the National Bank monthly.

A capital registration letter is a document issued when money was brought into the country and recorded. There is no version of it for a house that was built, a plot inherited, or savings accumulated in birr over a working life. Article 4 of the 2026 amendment opens outward investment, and it opens it for Ethiopian entities, case by case, on the Bank's approval.

The account rule that returns what was put in

There is one further outbound route, and its ceiling is the clearest statement of the design. Article 14.6.1 of the 2024 directive lists what the balance of a foreign currency account may be used for:

• conversion into birr, or into birr cash, at the prevailing rate;
• foreign service payments against invoices;
• cash withdrawal under the forex bureau rules;
• topping up a debit card on a valid travel document.

Its fifth item is the transfer route. Persons of Ethiopian origin who are foreign nationals, and who have deposited funds in their accounts, are entitled to effect transfers abroad as long as the amount does not exceed the initial balance plus any interest received on it.

That is a money-in, money-out rule. It returns what was brought in and adds the interest, and it is not a route for taking value created inside Ethiopia out of it. Article 2.62 defines the group it is written for as non-resident foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin holding the card issued under Proclamation No. 270/2002, which is not the same group as Ethiopian nationals living abroad.

Which way the birr is designed to travel

Set the two directions beside each other and they are not mirror images. Money arriving is well provided for. The 2024 directive requires a beneficiary to be paid in birr at the prevailing rate, or credited in foreign currency where they hold a foreign currency account. It names the Ethiopian Postal Service, telecommunications companies and payment system operators among the representatives that may pay a remittance out. And it lets a bank accept a deposit in Australian dollars and convert it to the account currency.

Money leaving now has a named allowance for keeping a household going, a larger one for treatment and study, and nothing for the proceeds of a thing owned. The reform has moved a long way along the current account without crossing into the capital one. For anybody planning around an Ethiopian asset, article 16 is where that question is settled, before a transfer is ever attempted.

Where to look next

• Receiving money from Ethiopia - the live birr to Australian dollar rate page for this corridor.
• Sending money to Ethiopia from Australia - the opposite direction, and which Ethiopian public holidays actually close an institution.
• AUD to ETB - the convert page for the pair, with the July 2024 change of regime behind it.
• How international transfers work - the sequence a payment moves through before a national rule reaches it.

Sources

• Directive No. FXD/04/2026, amendment to Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024, National Bank of Ethiopia - the preamble's stated purposes; amendment 3.3 on card issuance, 3.6 removing the minimum account-opening amount, 3.7 and 3.13 removing the customs declaration requirement above USD 10,000, 3.8 on foreign service payments for a spouse and children, 3.10 devolving approval of investor profit and dividend remittance to banks with monthly reporting, and 3.15 on the USD 20,000 per case for medical and educational services; article 4 on outward investment by Ethiopian entities case by case; article 5 on the USD 3,000 subsistence family support transfer; and the 12 February 2026 commencement.
• Foreign Exchange Directive No. FXD/01/2024, National Bank of Ethiopia - article 2.11 and 2.16 on capital and current account transactions; articles 2.61, 2.62 and 2.73 on non-resident Ethiopians, on non-resident foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin identified by the card obtained under Proclamation No. 270/2002 or an amendment to it, and on residents of Ethiopia; article 5 on freely negotiated rates; article 11 on the payout currency and the representatives; article 14 on foreign currency accounts, the acceptance of Australian dollar deposits, and the transfer entitlement capped at the initial balance plus interest; and article 16.1's prohibition with the article 16.2 exceptions for registered foreign investments and the article 16.3 documents.
• Public notice on relaxation of foreign exchange directives, National Bank of Ethiopia, 11 February 2026 - the Bank's own summary of the amendments, including the outbound remittance figure, the removal of the minimum account balance, the permission for outbound investment subject to case-by-case approval, and the pointer to the revised directive.

General information about what Ethiopia's foreign exchange directives permit to leave the country, as they stand in September 2026. This regime has been amended repeatedly since July 2024 and the figures are limits set by the instrument, not rates. Whether a particular transfer is a capital account transaction is a question for the bank concerned. Not financial advice, not legal advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.