Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Money
Ethiopia's currency is the birr. It's divided into 100 cents in one, five, 10, 25 and 50 cent
coins as well as a one birr coin, and there are one, five, 10, 50 and 100 birr notes. Despite
a weekly auction determining exchange rates, the birr is one of Africa's most stable cur-
rencies.
According to National Bank of Ethiopia regulations, all bills in Ethiopia must be paid in
birr. But this isn't enforced and Ethiopian Airlines, most major hotels and most travel
agencies accept (and sometimes demand) US currency.
One regulation that's strictly enforced is the conversion of birr to US dollars or euros;
this transaction can only be done for people holding onward air tickets from Ethiopia.
This means people leaving overland must budget accordingly. There are black-market
traders around the borders, but rates are poor and it's risky.
ATMs
Bigger branches of the Dashen Bank in all major towns now have ATMs that accept inter-
national Visa cards and an increasing number also accept MasterCard. Many other banks
also have ATMs that claim to take international Visa cards though more often than not
they don't. Note that foreign Solo, Cirrus or Plus cards do not work in any ATM.
Black Market
Unlike 10 to 15 years ago when almost all currency exchanges were conducted on a fairly
open black market that gave significantly higher rates than the banks, things have now
tightened up drastically. The black market still exists, and most hotels will exchange US$
cash or euros for you, but the rates are often worse than those offered by the banks.
The black market is illegal; penalties range from hefty fines to imprisonment.
Cash
As with many African countries the US dollar is the preferred foreign currency in
Ethiopia although the euro is also very easy to exchange. You'll have no trouble exchan-
ging US cash wherever there are Forex facilities.
Credit Cards
Credit cards (Visa and MasterCard) are increasingly useful in Addis Ababa but remain al-
most completely useless outside it, with the exception of some Ethiopian Airlines offices
