The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and the Ethiopian government have agreed to a second review of the country’s $3.4 billion budget, the IMF said Wednesday.
The East African country secured the plan in July, hours after it followed the International Monetary Fund’s recommendations and floated its currency the birr.
The International Monetary Fund said in a statement that Ethiopia will receive an allocation of about $251 million once the IMF’s Executive Board completes its review.
“Ethiopia’s economic reform programme, including the transition to a market-determined exchange rate, continues to advance well,” the statement said.
The conditions for economic growth in the coming period also appear to be the same, as the prudential policies supporting macroeconomic stability and the exchange rate have had little impact on inflation so far.
The first review, which focused on areas such as foreign exchange and external debt, was agreed with staff in September and approved by the board last month.
The IMF, which had previously regularly reviewed its work to monitor the impact of reforms, including Ethiopia’s foreign trade reforms, has now moved to a six-month review period.
Shortly after the IMF Executive Board approved the ECF plan in July, the IMF began providing a $1 billion loan to Ethiopia to support the government in implementing domestic fiscal reforms to address macroeconomic imbalances adequately and lay the groundwork for a private sector (HGER) process. to boost growth.
This was achieved after the completion of the first review of the loan program on October 18, with an immediate payment of $340.7 million to meet Ethiopia’s disbursement needs
The IMF Managing Director is expected to agree to a second review of the staff-level agreement in the coming weeks.
