World Bank Urges Ethiopia to Devalue Birr to Boost Exports

Ethiopia’s birr is overvalued and the country would benefit from a devaluation to boost export revenue and accelerate economic growth, the World Bank said.

Reducing the currency’s value by 10 percent in real terms may lead to a 5 percent increase in stalled export earnings and a 2 percent increase in growth, Lars Moller, the bank’s chief economist in Ethiopia, told reporters today in the capital, Addis Ababa.