Ethiopia, IFAD to increase access to financial services in rural areas

Addis Ababa, January 9, 2020 (FBC) –Ethiopia and IFAD signed a new $305.7 million program agreement for the Rural Financial Intermediation Programme III (RUFIP III).

The agreement was signed yesterday in Rome by Zenebu Tadesse, Ethiopian Ambassador to Italy and Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The new programme will help more than 13 million of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable farmers to increase and diversify their incomes, access financial services and build their resilience in rural areas threatened by climate change, said a statement issued by IFAD.

“This new programme will provide financial products and services to poor rural people in the least developed areas to promote poverty reduction and livelihood risk mitigation,” said Ulaç Demirag, Country Director for Ethiopia.

RUFIP III will build on the lessons and experiences of the first two phases of the programme, and will scale up delivery of rural financial services tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable smallholder farmers, particularly women and young people.

It will strengthen the capacity of the rural finance institutions to deliver an expanded range of financial products and services to a large number of rural poor people.

The funding includes a $35.1 million grant and $4.9 million loan from IFAD, with significant cofinancing from international development partners and from national financial institutions.

The Government of Ethiopia’s contribution is $51.9 million and $0.9million from the beneficiaries themselves.