Money, cards and ATMs in Ethiopia

The birr

• You may not enter or leave Ethiopia with more than 3,000 birr. In practice that is enough for a taxi and a meal, so plan to arrive with foreign cash and change it here.
• Changing money on the black market is illegal and carries heavy penalties. The rate you are offered on the street is a criminal offence with a discount attached.

Cards, barely

• Credit cards are not widely accepted, except at large hotels, travel agencies and a handful of shops and restaurants in Addis Ababa.
• Outside the capital, assume cash.

ATMs

• ATMs are very limited outside urban areas and can run out of cash without notice.
• Carry hard currency as a backstop. Canada's advice is explicit: make sure you have access to hard-currency cash in case of emergency.
• Draw cash in Addis before flying domestic. A regional town on a Sunday is not where you want to discover the machine is empty.

Taking money out

• Above USD 10,000 you need either a bank certificate for the currency purchase or the entry declaration form.
• Even with the documents, the excess can be confiscated. Regulations here change without notice, which the advisories say in as many words.