A day after the IMF announced that staff agreement is reached to lend the US $2.9 billion to Ethiopia, over three years period, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed disclosed on Friday that his government is getting an additional U.S. $3 billion from what he called “Development Partner.”
“I am pleased to announce that the Government of Ethiopia is right now finalising additional funding for the ongoing Economic Reforms!,” he wrote on his personal social media page.
It will be used to finance “Home Grown Economic Agenda,” specifically in three focus areas: “Macro-economic, Structural, and Sectoral reforms”, according to PM Abiy Ahmed. Details of the focus areas are not spelled out in the Prime Minister’s update.
While he made it clear that the fund has nothing to do with ones that are approved by the World Bank and IMF, the U.S. $3billion and the U.S. $2.9 billion respectively, the source of the $3 billion new funding is blurry.
“The UAE and Saudi Arabia’s support is also greatly appreciated. We anticipate additional resources from the United Nations agencies and EIB,” he said.
It is also unclear if the fund is secured in the form of a concessionary loan or any other format.
Addis Fortune, a locally published business newspaper, reported on the same day that the U.S. $3 billion dollars is secured from Development Assistance Group (DAG), which it described as “a consortium of 30 donors based in Addis Abeba.”
State Minister for Finance, Eyob Tekalign, is cited as saying that the “financial aid” is intended to finance the implementation of the “Homegrown Economic Reform Programme.”
According to Eyob Tekaligne, the funding came in response to a meeting that the National Bank of Ethiopia and the Ministry of Finance put together at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in September of this year.
Borkena
Borkena
