ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have pledged to extend more than 5 billion U.S. dollars over the coming three years to support Ethiopia's ongoing economic reform, the Ethiopian government disclosed on Friday.
The financial support pledged by the World Bank and IMF is said to cover about 60 percent of the total finance needed by the east African country's three-year economic reform aspiration, state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) quoted Eyob Tekalign, Ethiopia's State Minister of Finance, as saying.
Tekalign, noting the 5 billion U.S. dollars financial support by the WB and IMF as the highest amount of financial support the two partners extended to Ethiopia, also stressed that the two international financial institutions "will approve the money next week."
The stated amount of over 5 billion U.S. dollars fund would be provided in forms of assistance and loan, according to the ministry.
"The economic reform we have initiated needs huge amount of finance and we cannot collect this resource with our current potential," the Ethiopian state minister o finance said, as he emphasized the economic opportunities presented by the East African country's ongoing homegrown economic reform agenda.
"The good news is our global development partners, particularly the World Bank and IMF, have agreed to cover over half of the funding for this ambitious economic reform," ENA quoted Tekalign as saying.
The east African country had recently announced that it would need as much as 10 billion U.S. dollars to successfully implement the three years long national economic reform.
The required financial amount is expected to be mobilized from domestic resources and international development partners.
The Ethiopian government launched the ambitious homegrown economic reform, which envisaged reforms in sectoral, structural and macro-economic schemes, mainly aspires minimizing debt burden, adjusting external and internal trade imbalances as well as to mobilize domestic resource.
