A sensible macro reform is always our agenda but there should not be any concern about mere devaluation.” “There is widespread rumor that devaluation is in the making,” Eyob Tekalign, state minister in the Ministry of Finance, said on Twitter on Thursday.

The birr currently trades at 53.42 to the United States dollar, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, but it is reportedly worth 96 to 97 on the black market, and the country has long experienced foreign exchange shortages. Speculation that the birr currency would be devalued is “completely unfounded”, Ethiopia’s junior finance minister says as the country seeks an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan after agreeing to a ceasefire in its two-year civil war.