The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) Monday aunched a new digital foreign currency remittance service named ‘EthioDirect’.The platform enables Ethiopians abroad to send foreign currency to their family, friends, and loved ones at home using mobile-based platform.

The Ethio Direct Digital Remittance Service is a fast, secure, and easy-to-use money transfer platform, CBE President Abie Sano told reporters today.

The service will allow Ethiopians in Canada, Israel, the US, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, UAE, the UK, and Saudi Arabia to send up to 1,000 US Dollars.

The transferred amount will be settled in the beneficiary’s CBE account in Birr based on the exchange rate. The sender can also send the money as a cash Pickup transfer if the beneficiary doesn’t have a CBE bank account.

The service will have a significant impact on boosting remittance flow to the country, President Abie adding the newly launched platform will also give an impetus to CBE to achieve its annual foreign exchange earnings target.

Last year, the bank attained 89.2% of its target after securing $2.6 billion in annual foreign earnings. Of this, Remittance contributed $2.2 billion.