The funds are intended to ease balance\u2011of\u2011payments pressures and support Ethiopia\u2019s reform\u2011driven budget needs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The approval comes as Ethiopia continues implementing a wide\u2011ranging macroeconomic reform package introduced in July 2024. Speaking about the development on Monday, Mered Fikireyohannes, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pragma Investment Advisory, said Ethiopia is now 18 months into the programme, which includes major structural shifts such as floating the currency, restructuring domestic and foreign debt, and overhauling monetary policy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He noted that the full IMF package amounts to $3.4 billion, intended to stabilise the economy and support recovery. The latest disbursement followed the IMF\u2019s satisfaction with Ethiopia\u2019s progress, including negotiations with Eurobond holders and commitments to ongoing reforms.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF\u2019s support comes at a time when Egypt and Sudan have accepted a renewed United States (US) proposal to mediate negotiations with Ethiopia over the longstanding Nile River water dispute linked to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fikireyohannes said the dispute remains deeply rooted: \u201cThe tension over the Nile is as old as the pyramids.\u201d While the GERD is now structurally complete, holding around 74 billion cubic metres of water and capable of generating 5 135MW, disagreement persists over technical issues, especially water release during drought years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He explained that the US push to mediate serves wider geopolitical interests, including efforts to draw Egypt into the Abraham Accords. Ethiopia, however, prefers that negotiations take place under the Nile Basin Commission, which includes all upstream and downstream states, including Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Addressing concerns about possible economic consequences for Egypt and Sudan, Fikireyohannes stressed that the Nile\u2019s flow has not been disrupted, saying: \u201cSudan gets what it gets; Egypt gets what it gets. The river still flows.\u201d The remaining issue centres on coordinated drought\u2011season releases, not everyday water availability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He added that Ethiopia ultimately aims to sell electricity to Sudan and South Sudan under existing power\u2011purchase agreements, making cooperation in all parties\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite these dynamics, he warned that without agreement on water\u2011release rules, political tensions may linger: \u201cThe missing link is how much water should be dispersed, and when. That is what the Americans are trying to oversee.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16493,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-22625","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a disbursement of approximately $261 million to Ethiopia after completing the fourth review of the country\u2019s 48\u2011month Extended Credit Facility (ECF).","published_date":null,"news_description":"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a disbursement of approximately $261 million to Ethiopia after completing the fourth review of the country\u2019s 48\u2011month Extended Credit Facility (ECF).","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25855,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/22625\/revisions\/25855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=22625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}