![\"tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3D00C-VIEWIMAGE\"](\"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportBusinessNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3D00C-VIEWIMAGE.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBy Jorgelina do Rosario<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ethiopia is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow at least $2 billion under a reform program, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The IMF is still working on assessing the country’s debt sustainability after a request for a program equivalent to about 500% of the size of its stake in the global lender, the sources said this week on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. <\/p>\n
In this first debt analysis, the IMF calculated that Ethiopia is set to face a financing gap of at least $6 billion until 2026, according to two sources close to the negotiations. That would still leave a funding hole of roughly $4 billion over that period should the country succeed in securing the amount under discussion. <\/p>\n
Talks are still ongoing in Washington this week during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings. An IMF staff mission visited Addis Ababa from March 27 to April 7. <\/p>\n
“The scope of the support for Ethiopia is yet not set in stone, both parts are still working on the debt sustainability analysis,” one of the sources said.<\/p>\n
An IMF spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Ethiopia’s State Finance Minister Eyob Tekalign Tolina and central bank chief Mamo Mihretu also did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Africa’s second-most populous country in early 2021 requested a broader debt rework under the Group of 20’s Common Framework, an initiative for restructuring government debt aimed at low-income countries. But progress has been complicated by a two-year civil war that broke out in November 2020, leading to the deaths of thousands of people and displacing millions more.<\/p>\n
\n(Reporting by Jorgelina do Rosario; Editing by Paul Simao)<\/p>\n
![\"tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3C0SJ-VIEWIMAGE\"](\"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportBusinessNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3C0SJ-VIEWIMAGE.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"