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2023-04-25

Added 2026-06-03 · Updated 2026-09-05

Legal Tender Protection (Amendment) Directive No. CMD/02/2021

The National Bank of Ethiopia amends the Legal Tender Protection Directive to reduce the banknote hoarding limit for natural persons to Birr 100,000 and for juridical persons to Birr 200,000. Any excessive hoarding in violation of these limits is subject to confiscation under Proclamation No. 591/2008. Holders must reduce excessive banknote holdings to the new limits within three calendar days of the directive's effective date. The directive enters into force on March 10, 2021.

Ethiopia

National Bank of Ethiopia

የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ባንክ NATIONAL BANK OF ETHIOPIA ADDIS ABABA

“Legal Tender Protection (Amendment) Directive No. CMD/02/2021”

Whereas, it is found necessary to further reduce hoarding limit of banknotes to discourage illegal activities;

Now, therefore, the National Bank has issued this Directive in accordance with the power vested on it by article 27(2) of the National Bank of Ethiopia Establishment (as Amended) Proclamation No. 591/2008 to protect the country’s legal tender.

Short Title This Directive may be cited as “Legal Tender Protection (Amendment) Directive No. CMD/02/2021”.
Amendment Legal Tender Protection Directive No. CMD/1/2020 is hereby amended as follows:
Article 3.7 of the Directive is deleted and replaced by the following new article 3.7: “3.7 Notwithstanding sub-article 3.6 of this Article, a natural person, at one time, may hold banknotes up to Birr 100,000 (one hundred thousand Birr) and a juridical person up to Birr 200,000 (two hundred thousand Birr).”
A new article 4.5 is added following article 4 of the Directive: “4.5 Any excessive hoarding of banknotes in violation of Article 3.7 hereinabove shall be confiscated in accordance with sub-article 26(1)(d) of Proclamation No. 591/2008.”
A new Article 5 is added following article 4 of the Directive and existing Article 5 is renumbered as Article 6: “5. Transitional Provision Any excessive hoarding of banknotes shall be reduced to the limits stipulated in 3.7 above within 3 (three) calendar days from effective date of this Directive.”
Effective Date This Directive shall enter into force as of the 10th day of March 2021.

Yinager Dessie (PhD) Governor

አድራሻ፡ ሱዳን ጎዳና ፖ.ሣ.ቁ. 5550/2048 ፋክስ ቁጥር 0115 51 45 88 ስልክ ቁጥር 0115 51 74 30 አ.አ ADDRESS: SUDAN STREET P.O.BOX 5550/2048 FAX No. 0115 51 45 88 TEL No. 0115 51 74 30 ADDIS ABABA TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: NATIONBANK CODES-USED PETERSON 3rd & 4th ED BENTLEY’S 2nd PHRASE A.B.C. 6th EDITION E-mail nbe.exec@ethionet.et WEBSITE. www.nbe.gov.et