The company reports processing more than 128 million interoperable P2P transactions, which include account-to-account and wallet-to-account transfers, valued at nearly 578 billion Birr over the year. EthSwitch registered less than 120 million interoperable ATM cash withdrawals valued at 156 billion Birr over the same period.

“The landmark moment reflects not only EthSwitch’s success in driving digital payment adoption but also signifies a broader national shift toward a more cash-lite, digitally empowered economy,” wrote CEO Yilebes Addis in the company’s annual report.

When EthSwitch was established in 2011 as a share company owned jointly by commercial banks, microfinance institutions, and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), digital transactions in Ethiopia were virtually nonexistent.

The firm introduced ATM interoperability five years later and followed that up with point of sale (PoS) interoperability in September 2020, allowing anyone with a payment card to use PoS machines issued by any commercial bank to conduct a digital transaction.

It was not until late 2021 that EthSwitch officially availed a national integrated payment system that allowed for the instant transfer of funds from one financial institution to another.

EthSwitch has enjoyed a consistent growth in P2P transactions in the years since. In 2021/22, the operator recorded under 2.1 million P2P transactions valued at nearly 20 billion Birr. Two years later, EthSwitch processed 49.7 million transactions valued at 271 billion Birr.

The past year was a busy one for EthSwitch. The company acquired a new 12-storey headquarters in Kazanchis and finalized the construction of a “tier-3 equivalent” data center at the headquarters of Zemen Bank, also located in the same Addis Ababa neighborhood.

The switch operator’s data was previously handled in a data center on the premises of the NBE’s headquarters.

“EthSwitch also advanced national initiatives by serving as the central integration point for the Fayda Digital ID, enabling secure, centralized authentication for the financial sector,” reads the CEO’s message.

An Egyptian military delegation visited Mogadishu earlier this week as part of Cairo’s plans to take part in the mission as a troop-contributing country. A UN Security Council report from April 2025 indicates that close to 1,100 Egyptian military personnel will take part in AUSSOM.

The delegation’s visit comes amid growing friction with Ethiopia following last month’s inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Cairo says is a threat to Egypt’s water supply.

Ethiopia itself is contributing 2,500 troops to AUSSOM, which replaced the African Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) at the beginning of this year and is scheduled to last through 2028.

The latest peacekeeping mission in Somalia will be the first to feature Egyptian military personnel, as ATMIS drew troops from Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda. Cairo’s participation indicates deepening ties with Mogadishu, prompted by a year-long standoff with Ethiopia over a controversial maritime access deal with breakaway Somaliland that has since fizzled.

In August 2024, Cairo delivered military equipment to Somalia, pushing analysts to express concern over the potential for a proxy conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt. The concerns have been revived by Cairo’s intentions for AUSSOM, but Ethiopian officials maintain they do not see the deployment of Egyptian troops as a direct threat.

Suleiman Dedefo, ambassador to Somalia, told Somali media outlets this week that Ethiopia is “neither threatened nor comfortable” with the presence of Egyptian troops in Somalia.

Meanwhile, AUSSOM continues to face serious financial challenges that threaten to undermine peacekeeping efforts.

During the 80th UN General Assembly last month, AUC Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf stated the AU would be doubling its financial contribution to the peacekeeping mission to USD 20 million in 2025. However, the figure represents only a tenth of the funding needed to sustain AUSSOM until 2026.

The AUC chair urged partners to bridge the financing gap.

“Together, let us ensure that Somalia’s future is defined by hope, not relapse,” said Youssouf.

During his address at the assembly, President Taye Astkeselassie also urged the UN and partners to extend their support to AUSSOM in a bid to fight terrorism in the region.

The agency warns that without USD 230 million in immediate funding, it could be forced to completely suspend all food assistance to refugees in Ethiopia within the coming months.

WFP is the largest humanitarian agency globally and is the sole humanitarian assistance provider for over 1.1 million refugees and millions of IDPs in Ethiopia.

“We are making impossible choices,” a statement released this week quotes Zlatan Milisic, WFP Ethiopia country director, as saying. “We are trying to reach as many refugees as possible with meaningful amounts of food assistance. But without more funds, these reductions are just another step towards stopping food distributions completely, putting the lives of those we currently assist at risk.”

The statement indicates that only 70,000 newly arrived refugees from South Sudan and Sudan, many of whom are severely malnourished, will continue to receive full rations for the coming six months.

Close to 800,000 more refugees will be forced to survive on 40 percent rations, down from the 60 percent they had been receiving since the last downsizing in May 2023.

“WFP’s supplies of specialized nutritious foods provided to malnourished children and mothers are also running dangerously low. They are expected to run out completely by December, meaning that WFP’s support for one million malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women would also end unless additional funds are received,” reads the statement.

WFP’s operations in Ethiopia have been curtailed by funding constraints and security issues for the past several years, but the problems have become more pronounced with time.

A year ago, Milisic told The Reporter that seeing through humanitarian assistance programs and deliveries had grown increasingly challenging for the UN agency.

“Security challenges are often linked to banditry or robbery on the road by unidentified armed groups. They pose risks, threats, and challenges for us,” he said.

The movements of the world’s largest humanitarian organization were and continue to be deeply affected by protracted conflicts and security threats in Oromia, Gambella, Somali, parts of Tigray, and Afar, as well as by the silent battles going on between armed groups and government forces in the Amhara region, according to the Director.

“It’s difficult logistically and it’s difficult security-wise,” he said. “There are issues, particularly in the Amhara Regional State.”

In January 2025, sources told The Reporter that the WFP Ethiopia office was preparing to lay off more than a third of its 1,500 staff in a bid to cut expenses.

Barely four months later, WFP announced it was suspending life-saving nutrition treatment programs for 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia. A quick response from donors allowed the programs to continue, but this week’s statement warns that may not be the case for long.

“Our operations have been hanging by a thread for months now,” said Milisic. “This is not only undermining our ongoing support to food insecure Ethiopians and refugees, but also our preparedness to respond to new crises, which could span new refugee influxes, drought conditions or other climate shocks.”

WFP supported 4.7 million vulnerable people in Ethiopia between January and October this year with food assistance, nutrition support, school meals and resilience activities, according to the statement.

The emergency, originally declared by the Biden administration in 2021 and renewed yearly, will be in effect until September 2026, according to a notice from the US presidency issued this week.

“The situation in and in relation to northern Ethiopia, which has been marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Ethiopia and the greater Horn of Africa region, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” it reads.

The Biden administration declared the emergency a few months before moving to delist Ethiopia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for human rights violations committed during the northern war.

“We have not entered into a war of words with Eritrea despite provocation from the other side,” Gedion said in a parliamentary appearance on Thursday.

He was responding to questions from lawmakers while presenting a Ministry performance report.

“There are countries that have become ill at ease at seeing Ethiopia creating and maintaining amicable relations with its neighbors,” Gedion told MPs.

Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have soured over the past couple of years, growing especially tense in recent months in light of the federal government’s desire to secure maritime access. The administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has stated that “all options” are being considered, prompting concerns about potential conflict with neighboring countries, including Eritrea.

In recent months, Eritrea has initiated military mobilization efforts, calling upon citizens under 60 to enlist. The move has been interpreted by observers as a response to Ethiopia’s actions and statements regarding sea access.

Eritrean officials have described Ethiopia’s maritime ambitions as “misguided”, reflecting the deep-seated mistrust between the two nations.

Gedion’s comments come following controversial remarks from Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki last week, accusing Ethiopia of working to destabilize the region.

The Foreign Minister’s stance contrasts sharply with an opinion piece authored this week by MP and former Foreign Affairs official Dina Mufti, in which he accused Eritrea of supporting armed groups opposed to the federal government, alleging a coordinated effort to destabilize Ethiopia by uniting ethnic militias from the Tigray and Amhara regions.

Fourteen banks bid against one another for the USD 50 million on offer during what was the sixth foreign currency auction organized by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) since the market was liberalized in mid 2024.

The first auction, in August, saw 27 banks bid an average of 107.9 Birr for a US Dollar. When the second took place almost eight months later, the Birr had weakened 26 percent against the greenback. 

At the end of March, central bank regulators announced that auctions would take place every two weeks for “several months” in a bid to provide the private sector with “some portion of the foreign exchange accumulation that has been taking place.”

A March 31 statement from the NBE claimed its forex reserves had reached record levels owing to rising exports, increased remittances, and higher capital inflow. 

The Birr gained slightly during an auction held the next day, with the weighted average bid registering at 131.71 per US Dollar. The central bank offered USD 130 million in two more auctions over the following month, which both saw the Birr lose ground. Today’s bidding continued the trend. 

This week also saw the central bank introduce another round of changes to its forex policies. 

Importers are now able to take up to USD 50,000 from banks for upfront payments to suppliers, 10 times more than the previous limit. Regulators have also scaled up the amount of forex that travelers can purchase from banks to USD 10,000 (USD 15,000 for business travelers) and limited the amount that banks can charge for forex service to no more than four percent per transaction. 

The decision, announced in a statement from the Board today, follows the end of a three-month suspension levied on TPLF for failing to hold a federally recognized general assembly and elect its leaders within the six-month window granted to it when it was officially reinstated under “special circumstances” in August 2024.

The statement issued today accuses the party of failing to “take corrective measures” during the suspension, and says the TPLF’s status as a political party has been revoked as of May 13, 2025.

How the decision will impact the Pretoria Agreement and the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) remains to be seen.

A report from the Ministry of Mines indicates the central bank has received a staggering 26 tons of gold over the first nine months of the financial year, primarily driven by a surge in supply from artisanal miners in Tigray while large-scale miners have seen their production curtailed by technical and security issues.

The report indicates close to 10 tons of gold made its way to the central bank’s coffers from Tigray, where mining has become a lifeline for the region’s populace in a weakened post-war economy. 

The figure is more than double the 4.2 tons of gold supplied to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) by miners from across the country through the entirety of the last fiscal year. It is also 40 times the volume supplied by miners in Tigray last year.

The Ministry claims the colossal increase in supply is driven by the foreign exchange policy changes enacted by the federal government in mid-2024 and the subsequent narrowing of the exchange rate disparity between official and parallel markets. 

However, the scale of the improvement, particularly in Tigray, has raised eyebrows.

In January 2024, officials of the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) told The Reporter that while an estimated 100,000 active artisanal miners were active in the region, virtually none of the two tons of gold they extracted annually was making its way to the central bank. 

Instead, the bullion was being sold in a black market that offered much higher rates, or smuggled abroad via a thriving contraband trading network.

At present, however, mines in Tigray account for nearly half of all the gold supplied to the NBE, with Oromia and Gambella trailing at approximately 4,500 tons and 4,200 tons, respectively, according to the Ministry.

The report reveals that large-scale miners contributed far less to the central bank’s coffers than their artisanal counterparts. It indicates that MIDROC Gold, by far the largest of them, managed just two-thirds of the three tons expected by officials at the Ministry.

The reasons behind the shortfall are unclear, but a previous Ministry report posited that other 

large-scale miners are facing technical issues. Among them is Etno Mining, which paused production at its processing plant in Gambella just a couple of months after an inauguration ceremony attended by the Prime Minister.

All said, revenues generated by the export of gold so far this year stand at close to USD 2.2 billion, more than five times the total registered in 2023/24.

It was reported that the volume of gold making its way into the vaults of the central bank leaped   following the decision to float the currency in late July 2024.

Between July 2024 and April 2025, a total of 22.5 tons of gold have been supplied to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE,) representing an average of 4.3 tons supplied monthly, with gold supply significantly increasing after the currency float. This influx has strengthened Ethiopia’s foreign exchange reserves.

According to an investigative piece published by the Reporter back in July, illicit gold mining was rampant in Ethiopia’s northernmost region of Tigray, with a rush for gold becoming a flashpoint for conflict at times. 

The report found that high ranking military officers as well as foreigners had been involving in the illicit gold racket in the region, leading the Tigray Interim Administration to issue an edict temporarily banning gold mining.