IMF approves $341 million for Ethiopia’s first loan program review

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved the first review of Ethiopia’s $3.4 billion lending programme, the fund said on Friday, paving the way for a $340.7 million disbursement.

The East African nation secured the four-year financing program from the IMF in July after carrying out a series of reforms like floating its birr currency and putting its debt restructuring back on track.

Both sides announced a staff-level agreement on the review late last month, which was then submitted to the board for consideration.

Ethiopia’s government wants to make “tangible progress” on the debt overhaul by December, but investors in its $1 billion Eurobond have rejected its proposed writedown of about 18%.

The IMF scheduled an unusually fast pace of reviews of Ethiopia’s current program in order to closely monitor the impact of reforms, especially on the foreign exchange side.