IMF Ethiopia Talks End with No Agreement

IMF Ethiopia talks held in Addis Ababa ended on Tuesday. In quest of a bailout package, Ethiopia entered into talks with IMF more than a year ago.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Mr. Alvaro Piris visited Addis Ababa from March 19 to April 2, 2024.

At the end of the visit, Mr. Piris issued the following statement: “Building on earlier discussions, the staff team made substantial progress towards establishing how the IMF could support the authorities’ economic program. Discussions will continue at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings later this month. We thank the authorities for their warm hospitality and the productive discussions.”

Interestingly, the Paris Club of developed creditor nations, which does not include China, said last year that an agreement to suspend Ethiopia’s debt payments through 2025 could be voided if the country did not secure an IMF loan by March 31. It was not clear whether Paris Club members would enforce that deadline. Ethiopia reached a separate debt-service suspension deal with China earlier in 2023.

Experts have been warning about rapidly declining value of Ethiopian currency birr. IMF and US have been urging Ethiopian government recently to improve its human rights record.

After a 2 year long war came to a close in northern Ethiopia in November 2022, another conflict is brewing in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Human rights organizations accuse Ethiopian federal forces of having committed human rights violations in both Tigray and Amhara regions.

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