The Reporter Ethiopia

A couple of weeks ago, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) released a monetary policy statement, unexpectedly lifting the lending cap imposed three years ago and announcing its focus on indirect monetary policy instruments, such as its policy interest rate. The lifting of the cap was accompanied by a 1 percentage point increase in the NBE policy rate to 16 percent (with a sym...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Thursday a sweeping counterterrorism sanctions targeting a senior leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (EMB) alongside an international network of individuals and entities accused of funneling funds to Hamas’s military wing. The action targets multi-tiered financial pipelines—spann...

The central bank today reaffirmed that the use, trading and transfer of virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, remain prohibited unless expressly authorized by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), warning the public against engaging in such transactions because of legal and financial risks.

In a public notice, the NBE said the ban extends beyond cryptocurrencies t...

The African Union has condemned attacks claimed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement on commercial oil tankers in the Red Sea, warning that the assaults threaten regional security, global trade and one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.

In a statement, African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf denounced the attacks, which followed the Houthis...

By Muchira Gachenge

For weeks, Madagascar’s capital has been gripped by shock. Children have disappeared, bodies have been discovered, and public anger has reached a breaking point.

In response, Colonel Randrianirina’s junta has deployed the rhetoric of war and alleged a political conspiracy—without producing a shred of evidence. As civil society, trade unions, ...