Ethiopia is close to exhausting its foreign-currency reserves and may need a loan of $1 billion to fund food and fuel imports to avoid economic growth from slowing, an economist for the International Monetary Fund said.
Ethiopia, Africa’s largest coffee producer, has enough foreign currency to cover less than two months of imports, Muche Netsere, an economist with the IMF, said in a telephone interview from the capital Addis Ababa. Ethiopian imports totaled $1.6 billion in the three months to Jan. 8, the nation’s fiscal second quarter.
Without $1 billion in bridge financing, Ethiopia’s growth may fall to an estimated 6 percent from 7 percent by the end of next year and to 6.5 percent by 2010 from 7.5 percent, Netsere said.
Getachew Admassu, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, couldn’t be reached for comment when his office was contacted today. Alemayehu Kebede, spokesman for the National Bank of Ethiopia, didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone.
By Jason McLure, (Bloomberg)
7 thoughts on “Ethiopia may deplete its foreign currency reserves, IMF Says”
Where is this stat (7% growth) come from. You don’t need a phd in economics to figure out Ethio ecconomy has been back pedalling foe quiete sometime now. The real growth is more liuke -70% with or without foreign currency reserve.
I don’t eat percentages give me some food.
signed
Your hungry Ethiopian Sister
Lets decipher what this IMF report is all about. Woyanne is running out of money to help them conduct wars, torture, invasions and that requires money. Another funny thing is they assigned random economic growth numbers. In reality poor Ethiopian people have no social services, no economic growth. The only growth the Ethiopian people have seen is in misery index. This is an insult to any thinking Ethiopian. More and more Ethiopian intellectuals need to grow some gonads and start fighting for their people in a tangible manner by enlightening, organizing and arming the Ethiopian people to regain their dignity.
TPLF gangs are amazing. The simple theory of foreign exchange reserves indicates that as the amount of foreign capital inflows increase, the amount of reserve increases too. Alas, as usual TPLF gangs defy conventional wisdom. Meles’ regime received billions of foreign capital inflows, in form of aid and loans, yet, the reserve is less than the required minimum of a couple of months of imports, due debts in line.
God save Ethiopia from TPLF. Even Dergue with so much limited dollars inflows from the West did not drag the country to below required minimum foreign exchange reserves. The weirdest part, Meles’ economy, including the export, grows in digits.
Woyane needs to stop the mogadishu “adventure”. The sad fact is that once meles and co are out of the picture, the poor tigrayans are the one to pay the ultimate prise. may be it is time to the tigres to tell their PARASITES to get off of their back.
sirak
Well, what next?
The woyanetplf looters and murderers have been stealing the resorces of Ethiopia since they came into Ethiopia with no penney but with a lot of guns and bullets to kill Ethiopians.
No wonder the country is deprived of its foreign reserve to the point of becoming the absolute have not country. This is mainly because the looters are staching a huge amount of money to overseas and build their wealth which is worth in millions and millions of dollars.
Nearly 95.647% of manufacturing industries, service sectors, finacial institutions, transportations, and many other important business sectors are owned, controlled and run by members of the crimefamilies;therefore, and sadly, this why the country is nearly on the verge of collapse.
Unless these lotters are removed from the surface of Ethiopia, they burry millions of Ethiopians alive and plunge Ethiopia into eternal finacial crissis.
Real news from Ethiopia
Ethiopia plans to increase budget spending in 2008/09 (July/June) by 21 percent to 54.3 billion birr ($5.64 billion), Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed told parliament on Tuesday.
Road construction received the biggest allocation of 7.3 billion birr while defence spending went up to 4 billion birr from 3.5 billion last year.
The amount includes 23.4 billion birr for capital expenditure, 13.4 billion for regular expenditure and 16.6 billion birr for subsidies to regional states.
Education and food security each received 2 billion birr and the health sector was allocated 1.8 billion birr.
****We know we are poor but we are on our way from breaking out of poverty. We working hard and we have not time for anything else, but if we are provoked, we can defend ourselves easily!!!****
Well, the Tugrian incorporated group LLC have managed to plunder $ 20 billion dollar from the hungry mouth and poor people of Ethiopia. So, why are they crying about The country if that is what it is called, is doomed and a hopeless nation with a bleak future and leaving with hand out from year to year with no pride of itself. One can call it that it is land of beggars and prostitutes.
It is a shame that such a country has become a laughing stock of Africans, yet I see some Ethiopians, if that what they still are refereeing themselves as such or by their tribal identity trying and pretending to show they are what they USED to be. I laugh at you, since you brought it upon yourelf.