The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) sold USD 140 million to commercial banks in its 32nd foreign exchange auction today. The cut-off (marginal) rate was 159.1876 birr per dollar.

That is about 1.01 birr, or 0.64%, above the 158.1820 birr cut-off in Auction No. 31 on 27 October. It is the largest move in recent rounds. In the October 13 auction the cut-off reached 158.1724 birr, compared with 158.0715 birr in September.

The weighted average rate of successful bids was almost unchanged at 159.7091 birr, against 159.7014 in the previous round. The highest bid was 160.9975 birr, also close to last time’s 160.9994. The lowest bid matched the cut-off exactly, so no bank bid below the clearing price.

Banks bid a total of USD 156.73 million, up from USD 150.83 million two weeks ago. That gives a bid-to-cover ratio of about 1.12, the highest this quarter. Thirty-one banks took part, one more than last time. Twenty-six received allocations, down from 28.

Demand has now recovered from September. That month, commercial banks failed to fully absorb the foreign exchange offered for the first time since the NBE began publishing auction results. Analysts linked the shortfall to banks approaching regulatory liquidity ratios, which constrained their capacity to deploy additional local currency for foreign exchange purchases.

Today’s sale was the third of six planned for the second quarter. The NBE allocated $840 million across six bi-weekly rounds, scheduled for October 13 and 27, November 10 and 24, and December 8 and 22. The next auction is on 24 November.

The auction came a week after the NBE’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting. Headline inflation stood at 14.6 percent in October 2026, and the MPC kept the policy rate at 16 percent with the corridor unchanged.