Riyal to birr exchange rate today
Live Saudi Riyal (SAR) buying and selling rates from 24 Ethiopian banks, ranked best first. SAR is heavily used for remittances from Saudi Arabia, one of the largest sources of transfers to Ethiopia. Each bank sets its own rate and most reprice on every business day.
RATES AS OF 4 SEPTEMBER 2026
Which Ethiopian bank has the best SAR rate today?
The best rate to sell SAR cash in Ethiopia on 4 September 2026 is 45.38 ETB per SAR, at Siket Bank. The cheapest place to buy SAR is Gaada Bank at 33.67 ETB.
These are official published bank rates for the Saudi Riyal, compared across every commercial bank in Ethiopia that posts a board. A bank pays you its buying rate for foreign currency and charges you its selling rate to hand it over, so the two always differ - the gap is the bank’s spread.
Common amounts
All Ethiopian bank SAR rates, compared
Every bank that publishes a SAR board, ranked by the rate it pays for cash. Select a bank to see its full board across all currencies.
| Bank | Cash buying | Cash selling | Trans. buying | Trans. selling | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SIKSiket BankBEST | 45.38unchanged 0.00% | 46.29unchanged 0.00% | 45.38unchanged 0.00% | 46.29unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago |
| 45.25unchanged 0.00% | 46.16unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 9h ago | |
| 44.97up +0.03% | 45.87up +0.03% | 44.97up +0.03% | 45.87up +0.03% | 9h ago | |
| 44.78unchanged 0.00% | 45.68unchanged 0.00% | 44.78unchanged 0.00% | 45.68unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 44.27unchanged 0.00% | 45.15unchanged 0.00% | 44.27unchanged 0.00% | 45.15unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 44.06unchanged 0.00% | 44.94unchanged 0.00% | 44.06unchanged 0.00% | 44.94unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 43.61unchanged 0.00% | 44.48unchanged 0.00% | 44.12unchanged 0.00% | 45.00unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 43.07unchanged 0.00% | 43.93unchanged 0.00% | 43.07unchanged 0.00% | 43.93unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 42.93up +0.12% | 43.79up +0.12% | 42.93up +0.12% | 43.79up +0.12% | 9h ago | |
| 42.89unchanged 0.00% | 43.75unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 9h ago | |
| 42.80unchanged 0.00% | 43.66unchanged 0.00% | 42.80unchanged 0.00% | 43.66unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 42.78down −0.01% | 43.63down −0.01% | - | - | 9h ago | |
| 42.73unchanged 0.00% | 43.59unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 9h ago | |
| 42.68unchanged 0.00% | 43.53unchanged 0.00% | 42.68unchanged 0.00% | 43.53unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 42.51unchanged 0.00% | 43.36unchanged 0.00% | 42.51unchanged 0.00% | 43.36unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 41.18unchanged 0.00% | 42.00unchanged 0.00% | 41.18unchanged 0.00% | 42.00unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 33.01unchanged 0.00% | 33.67unchanged 0.00% | 33.01unchanged 0.00% | 33.67unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 42.84unchanged 0.00% | 43.70unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| - | - | 42.86unchanged 0.00% | 43.72unchanged 0.00% | 9h ago | |
| 45.25unchanged 0.00% | 46.16unchanged 0.00% | 45.25unchanged 0.00% | 46.16unchanged 0.00% | 3 Sept board | |
| 44.13unchanged 0.00% | 45.02unchanged 0.00% | 43.29unchanged 0.00% | 44.15unchanged 0.00% | 2 Sept board | |
| 43.66unchanged 0.00% | 44.54unchanged 0.00% | - | - | 28 Aug board | |
| 42.72unchanged 0.00% | 43.57unchanged 0.00% | 42.56unchanged 0.00% | 43.41unchanged 0.00% | 3 Sept board | |
| 29.95 | 30.55 | - | - | 30 Mar 2025 board |
How much does the bank you choose matter?
16 banks currently publish a SAR cash board. Between the best and the worst there is 4.20 ETB per SAR - about 4205 ETB on a 1,000 SAR exchange. 5 further banks have not refreshed since the current trading day and are excluded from these figures. 1 bank quoting more than 15% away from the market is also excluded here - a gap that size is a publishing error far more often than an offer. Their figures are still in the table above, exactly as published.
- Best paid to you
- 45.38ETB
- Median paid to you
- 43.00ETB
- Lowest paid to you
- 41.18ETB
- Cheapest to buy
- 42.00ETB
SAR rate history
Other currencies against the Ethiopian birr
- USDUnited States Dollar
- EUREuro
- GBPBritish Pound Sterling
- AEDUnited Arab Emirates Dirham
- CNYChinese Yuan
- CADCanadian Dollar
- AUDAustralian Dollar
- JPYJapanese Yen
- CHFSwiss Franc
- SEKSwedish Krona
- NOKNorwegian Krone
- DKKDanish Krone
- INRIndian Rupee
- KESKenyan Shilling
- DJFDjiboutian Franc
- ZARSouth African Rand
- KWDKuwaiti Dinar
- XDRSpecial Drawing Right
Answers
SAR to ETB - frequently asked questions
What is the SAR to ETB exchange rate today?
On 4 September 2026, the highest rate any Ethiopian bank pays for SAR cash is 45.38 ETB per SAR, at Siket Bank - that is what you receive when you sell SAR. Buying SAR costs more: the cheapest bank is Gaada Bank at 33.67 ETB. Each bank sets its own rate and most reprice on every business day.
Which Ethiopian bank has the best SAR exchange rate?
Siket Bank currently pays the most for SAR cash, at 45.38 ETB, while Gaada Bank is the cheapest place to buy SAR at 33.67 ETB. The leader changes regularly, because banks reprice independently and often daily. The table on this page ranks all 24 banks by their current published rate and flags any bank that has not refreshed its board.
How much do SAR rates differ between Ethiopian banks?
Across the 16 banks quoting SAR on 4 September 2026, the rate you are paid runs from 41.18 to 45.38 ETB. Choosing the right bank is therefore worth about 4205 ETB on a 1,000 SAR exchange. The median bank pays 43.00 ETB. Banks that have stopped publishing are excluded from these figures rather than dragging the range.
What is the difference between the cash rate and the transactional rate?
The cash rate applies to physical banknotes handed over a counter. The transactional rate applies to non-cash movements - wire transfers, remittances credited to an account, card settlement and letters of credit. Handling physical notes costs a bank more, so its cash rate is usually slightly worse than its transactional rate. Both are shown for every bank on this page, so compare the one that matches how your SAR will actually arrive.
Why do buying and selling rates differ?
The buying rate is what a bank pays you for your SAR; the selling rate is what it charges when you buy SAR from it. The bank keeps the gap between them, called the spread, as its margin. A narrower spread is a better deal overall, which is why it is worth comparing alongside the headline rate - a bank can lead on one side and lag badly on the other.
Are these official bank rates or parallel market rates?
These are official rates, taken from the exchange rate boards Ethiopian commercial banks publish themselves. ET-Forex does not collect, quote or estimate parallel (black market) rates. The Saudi Riyal figures shown here are what a bank branch will apply, subject to that branch's own limits and documentation requirements.
How often are these SAR rates updated?
ET-Forex re-reads every tracked bank's published board several times a day, and this page refreshes within minutes of a change. Most Ethiopian banks reprice once per business day, in the morning. Each row shows when that bank was last read, and any bank still quoting an older trading day is flagged and ranked last rather than being quietly mixed in with current rates.
Developer API
Every Ethiopian bank rate, one endpoint.
Query live and historical boards by bank, currency or rate type. JSON in, JSON out - no scraping, no per-bank quirks to handle.
JSON
REST, no SDK needed
90d
History, anonymous
Free
No key to read rates
$ curl 'https://api.et-forex.com/api/v1/banks/CBE/rates'
{
"bank": "CBE",
"rates": [{
"currency": "USD",
"cashBuying": "160.23",
"cashSelling": "163.44"
}]
}