IMF says still ‘differences’ with Ethiopia over new loan program

There are still “differences” between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ethiopia over a loan and reforms package, but talks are continuing, a senior IMF official said on Friday.

Ethiopia may need to #devalue its birr currency, which is trading on the black market about 50% weaker than the official rate against the U.S. dollar, to secure the support of the IMF. The fund has not confirmed this is a condition of funding but usually favours flexible, market-determined exchange rates.

“Negotiations are ongoing,” IMF Mission Chief for Ethiopia Alvaro Piris Chavarri told reporters at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington. “There are still differences.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said, declining to give details of the differences still to be resolved. “Discussions take the time they take.”

Ethiopia hasn’t received any IMF funds since 2020 and its last lending arrangement with the fund went off track in 2021. The federal government and a rebellious regional authority signed a deal in late 2022 to end a two-year civil war.

• Source:-AS