Parliament Approves 668.76 M Loan

By Gubae Gundarta

In its 9th assembly of the first term, the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic’s House of Representatives endorsed five different loan deals totting up to 668.76 USD. It was learnt that the agreements embodied extended repay period and lesser interest rates.

108.40 million, marked down for the implementation of agricultural projects, was procured from Society for International Development along with 41.60 million in aid; 180 million was also obtained from the same source for financing energy schemes. Another amount, 94,450,000 was provided by the Chinese Import Export Bank. It was said that this would be used for funding Adama wind power project. Of 640 million needed for the development of the sugar production industry, 213,310,000 was acquired from the Indian Import Export Bank. The remaining 72.6 million meant for financing basic services, second phase, was supplied by African Development Bank.

Wondimu Gezahegn, State Minister and Deputy Government Whip called upon the MPs to endorse the loan agreements noting they were not distinct from other loan agreements made on several previous occasions and the money was totally meant for the successful implementation of the Growth and Transformation Plan. In a similar vein, Minister of Finance, Sofian Ahmed said up until the end of the previous Ethiopian fiscal year, the country had 3.4 billion USD arrears. He also mentioned that on the basis of the survey conducted by the World Bank, Ethiopia can have a loan of up to 1 billion USD annually. Adding, the minister said the country would not have been allowed to have access to this much money, unlike many other countries, if it hadn’t worked hard to get the 7 million USD owed by the Dergue regime canceled.

Deribew Temesgen, Minister of Agriculture, said on his part that with the amount earmarked for agricultural undertakings, the ministry would finance an assortment of developmental activities across 83 Woredas and beyond after assessing outcomes.

NewsDire Staff Writer