Ethiopia’s Debt Stress Levels Moderate: Ministry
MMr. Ahmed Shide Minister of Finance of Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s debt stress level has improved from high risk to moderate as of January due to loan rescheduling by China, according to the Ministry of Finance. Ethiopia has 39.1 billion dollars of outstanding debt, of which 16.8 billion dollars is foreign debt, while the remaining is domestic debt. The debt stress level improved after China rescheduled the loan payments period of the railway from five years to 10 years and also extended the grace period of the loans to 20 years.
In addition, China has also changed its commercial loans to concessional loans, according to Haji Ibsa, communications director at the Ministry. In the first half of this fiscal year, the country has closed 54.5 billion Br in loans and grants, which is roughly on track with last year’s numbers. Of the total value, 28.8 billion Br was in loans, while the remaining is in grants. The loans and the grants came from bilateral and multilateral sources.