For Aster Yemam, a 38-year-old widow and mother of two, Ethiopia’s New Year did not bring the respite she had hoped for. Instead, it added to the daily strain of keeping her family afloat.
On a recent morning at Sholla Gebeya, a bustling open-air market near St. Michael Church on the road to Megenagna, Aster arranged cabbages and potatoes on a wooden stall — the food items she sells to scrape together a living. Since her husband’s death four years ago, she has been the sole provider for her 5- and 7-year-old children.
“Life is very challenging for me and the kids,” she said as she poured water for a lone chicken she had bought for the holiday. “This place is the only way I can bring bread home. There are times when I can’t even meet their basic needs. The holiday is here, but all I could manage was this one chicken.”
She had paid 1,500 birr for it — half borrowed from a friend who runs a small shop. “I don’t want to disappoint my kids, nor can I really afford this. But it is the New Year after all,” she said. “For most Ethiopians, slaughtering a chicken or a sheep has been a tradition for centuries. Life has been very difficult since my husband’s death. On top of my loss, inflation has hit me hard, especially in the past couple of years.”
Her predicament is far from unique. Skyrocketing prices are squeezing households nationwide — from the capital to Bahir Dar and Gondar, from Tigray to Wolaita and Oromia. Yet even under financial strain, many Ethiopians cling to the joy of Enkutatash, the Ethiopian New Year.
Observed on Meskerem 1 of the Ethiopian calendar — September 11 or 12 on the Gregorian calendar — Enkutatash marks the end of the rainy season. Sunshine returns, and hillsides burst into yellow daisies known as Adey Abeba. Families attend church services, gather for shared meals, and prepare elaborate holiday foods. Children bring hand-painted pictures of flowers to relatives and receive money or bread in return. Homes fill with the smell of baking traditionalDeffo Dabo and Ambasha breads.
Livestock markets swell as buyers seek chickens for doro wot, the spicy chicken stew at the heart of many holiday feasts. But for families like Aster’s, the surge in demand has made even the basics unaffordable.
According to Ethiopia’s Central Statistical Agency, annual inflation reached 24.5 percent in May 2024, with food prices climbing 28.1 percent. By July 2025, the overall inflation rate had eased to 13.7 percent, but food inflation continued to rise, driven by vegetables, meat, non-alcoholic beverages and other staples.
For Aster, the numbers are more than statistics. They are the reason she can offer her children only one chicken instead of the abundant spread she remembers from her own childhood New Years.
Holiday Markets Offer Abundance — but at a Price
In the run-up to the New Year, markets across the country are awash with goods, livestock and hopeful shoppers. But for many families, the holiday spirit is shadowed by price tags that keep climbing, despite government efforts to stabilize costs.
A market survey by The Reporter in Addis Ababa and major cities in the Amhara and Southern Ethiopia regions found wide disparities in prices for food and household staples.
The Addis Ababa Trade Bureau says it has flooded the capital’s bazaars and weekend markets with products — fruits, vegetables and livestock — to blunt inflation’s impact. By its count, more than 125,000 cattle, nearly 300,000 sheep and goats, 700,000 chickens and 20 million eggs were supplied to government-designated sales centers in the weeks before the holiday.
Yet prices still varied sharply across neighborhoods. At Shola Market, local and imported chickens ranged from 1,700 to 2,500 birr. Eggs sold for 15 to 20 birr apiece. In the Bole sub-city’s Megenagna area, eggs dipped to 12 birr, but buyers were limited to 10 at a time. Fresh butter there cost 1,500 birr per kilogram, with a lower-quality option at 1,200 birr. Washed coffee fetched 1,500 birr per kilogram and unwashed coffee 1,200 birr.
Consumers noted differences between government-organized selling points and regular market stalls — and not just in price. Quality, they said, varied, too. Washed coffee at Shola Market, for example, sold for 1,200 to 1,500 birr, while raw coffee was uniformly 1,090 birr at weekend markets. Onions, a holiday essential, went for 90 birr per kilogram at government centers but between 110 and 160 birr at private retailers.
Some traders say the government-run bazaars are making a difference. Fetlework Tibebu, who sells traditional clothing in Megenagna, said her stall has seen brisk sales. “Prices here are more affordable than elsewhere,” she said. “Butter, onions, eggs and cooking oil are adequately supplied and reasonably priced.” She noted that a five-liter container of cooking oil was 1,600 birr at a regular shop but 1,300 birr at the bazaar.
Livestock prices showed even starker gaps. Near Adey Abeba Stadium, sheep cost anywhere from 12,000 to 45,000 birr. Goats transported from Harar ranged from 12,000 to 40,000 birr.
Dereje Regassa says the price of bulls has surged, even without a shortage of supply. Yearling bulls now sell for 70,000 to 80,000 birr; small-sized bulls for 80,000 to 90,000 birr; medium bulls for 90,000 to 110,000 birr; and fattened bulls for as much as 200,000 birr. “Compared to previous holiday markets, this year’s prices have increased by 8,000 to 15,000 birr across all categories,” he said. Still, slaughter animals were streaming into Addis Ababa from all four entry points, suggesting supply was steady.
Outside the capital, the picture is mixed. In Bahir Dar, the Amhara regional capital, residents reported no supply shortages but higher chicken prices: 1,500 birr for a medium bird, up to 2,500 birr for a large one. In Gondar, chickens went for 1,300 to 1,600 birr, with onions and garlic also higher than usual. In Wolaita, by contrast, locals said prices remained mostly stable in the representative towns of Boditi, Areka, Tsebel and Gununo, though they noted some differences compared to regular days.
Despite these efforts, Ethiopia’s economic pressures continue to weigh on its holiday traditions. For families like that of Aster, the New Year celebration becomes less a feast and more a measure of resilience. Each purchase, from eggs to cooking oil, tells the story of inflation’s reach into everyday life.
Abebe Fiker and Yemane Birhanu contributed to this article
