A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Alvaro Piris, visited Addis Ababa between April 3 and 17, 2025. The visit was to discuss the Article IV consultation and conduct a third review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for Ethiopia. Further discussions were held during the Spring Meetings in Washington DC from April 21 to 28. The ECF arrangement was initially approved by the IMF Executive Board on July 29, 2024, totaling US$3.4 billion (SDR 2.556 billion). Subject to board approval, the third review will release about US$260 million (SDR191.7 million), bringing total support so far to approximately US$1,849 million (SDR1,406.4 million).
Alvaro Piris stated: “The IMF staff team and the Ethiopian authorities have reached staff-level agreement on the third review of Ethiopia’s economic program under the ECF arrangement. The agreement is subject to the approval of IMF management and the Executive Board in the coming weeks. A memorandum of understanding with official creditors is expected to be agreed ahead of the IMF Board’s consideration of the third review.”
Piris acknowledged that policy actions taken by Ethiopian authorities in their first year have shown strong results: “The transition to a flexible exchange rate regime has proceeded with little disruption.” He noted improvements in monetary policy modernization, domestic revenue mobilization, social safety nets enhancement, state-owned enterprises strengthening, and financial stability anchoring.
“Recent policy action should help deepen the FX market and tackle remaining distortions,” Piris mentioned while addressing issues such as real exchange misalignment correction and improved FX availability compared to last year.
Maintaining reform momentum is crucial according to Piris: “Continued tight monetary and financial conditions will be important for managing inflation and exchange rate expectations.” He emphasized further revenue mobilization for sustainable financing of development spending.
“The staff team is grateful to the authorities for excellent policy discussions,” said Piris. During their visit, they met with Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide, Governor Mamo Mihretu of the National Bank of Ethiopia, State Minister Eyob Tekalign, among other senior officials.