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Ethiopia to Get $3 Billion Loan From World Bank


FILE - Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during a session with the Members of the Parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct. 22, 2019.
FILE - Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks during a session with the Members of the Parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct. 22, 2019.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Friday that Ethiopia will receive $3 billion from the World Bank to help strengthen reforms in its traditionally state-controlled economy.

Two days ago, the International Monetary Fund said it had reached a preliminary agreement for a three-year, $2.9 billion financing package to support Ethiopia's economic reforms.

Abiy did not give more details on the World Bank funding. He said on his Twitter account that unnamed development partners have pledged more than $3 billion in addition to the World Bank and IMF funding.

The money will go toward macroeconomic, structural and sectoral reforms, he said.

"This reaffirms both Governments' and donors' partnership to transition Ethiopia to a prosperous and peaceful nation," Abiy wrote.

Ethiopia's State Minister of Finance, Eyob Tekalign Tolina, did not say when World Bank funds will be released, but told Reuters that once approved, the World Bank loan would also be disbursed over a three-year period.

The World Bank Ethiopia office did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Abiy promised to open the economy to private investment when he took office in 2018, aiming to modernize banking and telecoms and help provide jobs for more of Ethiopia's 105 million people.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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