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According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, on October 14 local time, the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia announced that due to the growing shortage of foreign exchange, it had decided to freeze the issuance of letters of credit for 38 kinds of products such as imported furniture from October 17, 2022, and the ban would continue indefinitely.

According to the latest list of products prohibited from import indefinitely, 38 kinds of products involved include residential furniture and office furniture (except specially designed chairs), carpets, ceramics, kitchenware, bicycles, automobiles (except electric vehicles), artificial jewelry, chocolate, etc. Huacheng's import and export data observation report.

If the letter of credit has been approved and is in the process of import transportation, the 38 kinds of products prohibited from import will not be affected by the ban.

The Ethiopian government pointed out that the newly banned products are considered luxury goods. Fikadu Digafe, Chief Economist and Vice President of the National Bank of Ethiopia, said: "By stopping the import of selected non essential goods, we can roughly expect to save about $100 million. This money will be used to import key goods, especially industrial inputs." Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

According to the observation of Huacheng's import and export data, as of mid July, the country's foreign exchange reserves were 3.2 billion US dollars. According to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund for Ethiopia from 2022 to 2023, Ethiopia's foreign exchange reserves can only allow the country to import key goods such as fuel, fertilizer and medicine in less than a month.

At present, Ethiopia is the latest country to ban the import of non essential goods due to the pressure of foreign exchange reserves. According to incomplete statistics, Sri Lanka still restricts the import of furniture, cars and other goods to cope with foreign exchange shortage, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.