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National Bank of Ethiopia
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| National Bank of Ethiopia | |
| Headquarters | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Chairman | H.E. Ato Newaye-Christos Gebreab |
| Central Bank of |  Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia |
| Currency | Ethiopian birr |
| ISO 4217 Code | ETB |
| Base borrowing rate | 8.00% |
| Base deposit rate | 3.00% |
| Website | www.nbe.gov.et/index.html |
The National Bank of Ethiopia is the central bank of the African country Ethiopia. Its headquarters are in the capital city of Addis Ababa. The bank's name is abbreviated to NBE.
February 15, 1906 marked the beginning of banking in Ethiopia when the first Bank of Abyssinia was inaugurated by Emperor Menelik II. It was a private bank whose shares were sold in Addis Ababa, New York, Paris, London, and Vienna. One of the first projects financed by the bank was the Franco-Ethiopian Railway which reached Addis Ababa in 1917. In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie introduced reforms into the banking system and the Bank of Abyssinia became the Bank of Ethiopia, a fully government-owned bank providing central and commercial banking services. With the Italian invasion in 1935 came the demise of one of the earliest initiatives in African banking.
As successor the Bank of Ethiopia was established in 1931 to take over the Central bank functions until the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936. During the Italian occupation, Italian banks were active in Ethiopia.
On April 15, 1943, the State Bank of Ethiopia became the central bank and was active until 1963.
The National Bank of Ethiopia was established in 1963 by Proclamation 206 of 1963 and began operation in January 1964.
Prior to this proclamation, the Bank carried out dual activities, i.e. commercial banking and central banking. The proclamation raised the Bank's capital to 10 million Ethiopian dollars and granted broad administrative autonomy and juridical personality. Following the proclamation the National Bank of Ethiopia was entrusted with the following responsibilities:
- To regulate the supply, availability and cost of money and credit.
- To manage and administer the country's international reserves.
- To license and supervise banks and hold commercial banks reserves and lend money to them.
- To supervise loans of commercial banks and regulate interest rates.
- To issue paper money and coins.
- To act as an agent of the Government.
- To fix and control the foreign exchange rates.
However, monetary and banking proclamation No. 99 of 1976 came into force on September 1976 to shape the Bank's role according to the socialist economic Principle that the country adopted. Hence the Bank was allowed to participate actively in national planning, specifically financial planning, in cooperation with the concerned state organs. The Bank's supervisory area was also increased to include other financial institutions such as insurance institutions, credit cooperatives and investment-oriented banks. Moreover the proclamation introduced the new 'Ethiopian birr' in place of the former Ethiopian Dollar that ceased to be legal tender.
The proclamation revised the Bank's relationship with Government. It initially raised the legal limits of outstanding government domestic borrowing to 25% of the actual ordinary revenue of the government during the proceeding three budget years as against the proclamation 206/1963, which set it to be 15%.
This proclamation was in force till the new proclamation issued in 1994 to reorganize the Bank according to the market-based economic policy so that it could foster monetary stability, a sound financial system and such other credit and exchange conditions as are conductive to the balanced growth of the economy of the country. Accordingly the following are some of the powers and duties vested in the Bank by proclamation 83/1994.
- Regulate the supply and availability of money and credit and applicable interest and other hanges.
- Set limits on gold and foreign exchange assets which banks and other financial institutions authorized to deal in foreign exchange and hold in deposits.
- Set limits on the net foreign exchange position and on the terms and amount of external indebtedness of banks and other financial institutions.
- Make short and long-term refinancing facilities available to banks and other financial institutions.
Moreover, the proclamation has also raised the paid-up capital of the Bank from Birr 30.0 million to Birr 50.0 million.