Ethiopia secured a 1.5 billion U.S. dollar debt relief agreement with creditors, its central bank chief said. The deal will temporarily ease the country’s financial burden as it seeks a wider funding programme.
National Bank of Ethiopia Governor Mamo Mihretu and confirmed the deal in a statement on Thursday.
“We’ve been able to achieve an interim debt service suspension and therefore able to save around $1.5 billion that would have gone to debt servicing,” Mamo told a parliamentary committee.
The landlocked country has about $28 billion of external debt and is also grappling with inflation at and a shortage of foreign currency reserves.
Ethiopia has been in discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a programme of financial support for its economic reforms.
