ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia's central bank devalued the Ethiopian birr by 15 percent on Tuesday, its first such move in seven years to boost lagging exports. The birr was quoted by the National Bank of Ethiopia at a weighted average of 23.4177 against the dollar on Monday, compared to what will be 26.9215. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have both repeatedly urged Ethiopia to consider devaluing its currency to boost exports as they are mostly unprocessed products and need to stay competitive on price. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyEthiopia has operated a managed floating exchange rate regime since 1992. The Horn of Africa country is the continent's biggest coffee exporter but its total export revenue has been falling short of targets for the last few years owing to weaker commodity prices.

Source: Ethiopian News October 10, 2017 13:41 UTC