Economy
Gold and Coffee Drive Ethiopia's Export Boom
BirrMetrics · 4 hours ago · Read the Full Story on BirrMetrics
AI SUMMARY
Ethiopia earned 2.3 billion US dollars from merchandise exports in the first two months of the 2026/27 fiscal year, though the boom is heavily concentrated in gold and coffee.
- Ethiopia earned 2.3 billion US dollars from merchandise exports in the first two months of the 2026/27 fiscal year, marking a 176 percent increase from the previous year.
- Gold brought in 1.34 billion US dollars, accounting for 58 percent of total export earnings.
- Coffee contributed 606 million US dollars, representing 26 percent of the total export revenue.
- All other exports combined, including leather, cut flowers, electricity, meat, and textiles, shared the remaining 16 percent.
- The surge in formal gold exports is attributed to the 2024 birr float, higher National Bank of Ethiopia purchase prices, and rising world prices.
- Gross foreign-exchange reserves reached 7.1 billion US dollars by the end of August, covering 2.4 months of imports.
- The parallel-market premium narrowed to 13 percent, down from about 18 percent in January.
- A new refinery at the Bole Lemi Special Economic Zone aims to assay, refine, and certify gold domestically with a capacity exceeding 600 tonnes per year.
- Coffee shipments totaled 90,300 tonnes, generating 606 million US dollars.
- Manufacturing exports remained marginal at 75 million US dollars, representing about three percent of total export earnings.
- The current-account deficit widened to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2025/26 as fuel and fertilizer imports outpaced export gains.
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