Purpose

This paper aims to examine the contribution of Ethiopia’s cash economy to financial crimes. It also investigates the regulation of cash in the context of controlling crime stemming from the cash economy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study relies on primary data generated from 20 interviewees drawn from the National Bank of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Financial Intelligence Center, selected commercial banks and law enforcement agencies and document review from government reports, media press and statutes, as well as secondary data from online and offline sources.

Findings

The cash-intensive nature of Ethiopia’s economy has enabled a significant amount of cash to circulate outside of the formal financial system. This money is partly to blame for the prevalence of criminal activities such as cash hoarding, corruption and illicit financial flows. To address the threat of crime posed by the cash economy, the Ethiopian Government has taken measures such as restricting cash withdrawals from financial institutions, limiting the amount of cash individuals can hold and demonetizing the banknotes. The measures enable the banks to collect the cash circulating outside of the formal financial sector. However, the effect of these measures on reducing future criminality remains uncertain. Improving the financial inclusivity of the country, specifically expanding basic financial products to the rural areas, digitalizing the country’s payment system, raising general financial awareness and establishing a strong financial consumer protection framework would play a critical role in reducing future criminality and transforming the cash-intensive into a cashless economy.

Originality/value

This paper provides a first-of-its-kind analytical perspective on the contribution of Ethiopia’s cash economy to criminal activity and the adequacy of countermeasures so far taken.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚的现金经济、犯罪和现金监管

目的

本文旨在研究埃塞俄比亚现金经济对金融犯罪的贡献。它还调查了在控制源自现金经济的犯罪的背景下对现金的监管。

设计/方法/方法

本研究依赖于来自埃塞俄比亚国家银行、埃塞俄比亚金融情报中心、选定的商业银行和执法机构的 20 名受访者的原始数据，以及来自政府报告、媒体新闻和法规的文件审查，以及来自在线和离线资源。

发现

埃塞俄比亚经济的现金密集型性质使得大量现金能够在正规金融体系之外流通。这笔钱部分归咎于现金囤积、腐败和非法资金流动等犯罪活动的盛行。为应对现金经济带来的犯罪威胁，埃塞俄比亚政府已采取措施，例如限制从金融机构提取现金、限制个人可以持有的现金数量以及取消纸币的货币化。这些措施使银行能够收集在正规金融部门之外流通的现金。然而，这些措施对减少未来犯罪的影响仍不确定。提升国家金融普惠水平，特别是将基础金融产品延伸至农村，

原创性/价值

本文就埃塞俄比亚现金经济对犯罪活动的贡献以及迄今为止所采取的反措施的充分性提供了首创的分析视角。