Ethiopia requests dev’t partners for continued support to its ambitious reform endeavours

Addis Ababa, October 14, 2022 (FBC) – Ethiopia’s Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide, alongside Yinager Dessie, Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia participated in the G7 Meeting of Ministers of Finance during the World Bank & IMF annual meetings.

The meeting discussed opportunities for advancing an effective implementation of the Common Framework for debt treatment and enhanced economic cooperation of important global partners with Africa.

During the meeting, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide highlighted the country’s notable advancements on the national reform agenda, which has contributed to the resilience of Ethiopia amid the recent multiple shocks and the difficult global outlook.

The Minister stated that, through difficult reforms, the government successfully implemented stringent budget constraints on non-concessional borrowing that have not been breached since 2019, and SOE debt, which has been a key source of Ethiopia vulnerabilities, has nearly halved as a share of GDP in just 4 years as a result of these reforms.

He indicated that the government has begun to gradually open the economy, develop financial markets, and roll back wasteful fuel subsidies, and that moving toward market-determined exchange rate by unifying the official and parallel rates remains a key objective.

The Minister expressed concern about the slow progress and uncertainty around the G20 Common Framework process whereas risks continue to rise, and urged the partners to help bring swift resolution to this issue and to be mindful of the tremendous economic hardships that the people of Ethiopia are facing.

Ahmed asked development partners’ continued support to the country’s ambitious reform agenda to address its economic challenges, which would help Ethiopia and the Horn region at large, avert an economic crisis.

He underscored Ethiopia’s role in anchoring stability in the Horn of Africa which could be imperiled should economic and social stability in Ethiopia be threatened.

The Minister reassured the partners of Ethiopia’s continued commitment to undertake difficult reforms in an extremely challenging environment, that will help the country build a shared future and greater economic prosperity for its citizens, and generate positive spillovers to the Horn of Africa.

Finally, Minister Ahmed Shide stated that Ethiopia looks to development partners in helping to implement this new phase of reforms to support Ethiopia’s prosperity as well as mitigate the exacerbation of social, economic, and political risks, as per Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC.