(Ecofin Agency) – Most of the East African country’s debt is owed to multilateral financial institutions, including the IMF and the World Bank, and to bilateral creditors such as China and Saudi Arabia.
The Ethiopian government announced on Tuesday 1is October, that he expects “ progress tangible » by next December regarding the signing of an agreement in principle with its official creditors on the restructuring of its bilateral debt.
« Once the MoU is concluded with the official creditors, the Republic of Ethiopia will sign bilateral agreements with each creditor, reflecting the terms of the MoU,” the government said in a presentation to Eurobond holders.
During the presentation by Ethiopian Finance Minister Eyob Tekalign (photo) and a representative of the government’s legal consultancy White & Case, the Ethiopian government also invited Eurobond holders to negotiate alongside the discussions. with creditor countries in order to accelerate the debt restructuring process. Struggling with high inflation and a chronic shortage of foreign currency, Ethiopia in December 2023 became the third country on the continent in as many years to default on its debt after Zambia and Ghana. This East African country concluded, at the end of last July, an extended facility agreement of 3.4 billion dollars for a period of four years with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which estimated the external debt from Addis Ababa to $28.9 billion.
About half of Ethiopia’s external debt stock is owed to multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Of the $12.4 billion owed to official creditors, China accounts for $7.4 billion and Saudi Arabia for just over $1 billion.
Also read:
11/12/2023 – Debt restructuring: Ethiopia’s private creditors refuse a haircut and postponement of the maturity
12/27/2023 – Ethiopia officially defaults on its $1 billion Eurobond
16/11/2023 – Ethiopia temporarily suspends the repayment of its bilateral debt and prepares to restructure a Eurobond
09/12/2019 – Ethiopia must repay $4 billion in debt each year to achieve its development goals (CEA)
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