IMF talks with Ethiopia to continue after progress made

NAIROBI - The International Monetary Fund and Ethiopia made progress in talks on the fund's support for the country's economic reform programme and discussions will continue in Washington next week, the fund said on Friday.

Officials from the IMF have been in Ethiopia since late March when a fund spokesperson said they were doing technical work to prepare for a potential IMF-supported programme.

"We made progress in discussing the scope for IMF support for this reform programme," Alvaro Piris, who led the IMF mission visit, said in a statement.

"Discussions will continue in Washington, DC, next week, in the context of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, and in coming weeks."

In late March, the IMF said it welcomed the progress Ethiopia had made in restoring lasting peace and stability following an agreement in November to cease hostilities, including the restoration of humanitarian assistance and basic services to the northern Tigray region.

Progress on the IMF programme and Ethiopia's request for debt relief under the Group of 20 Common Framework was stalled in part because of the two-year conflict in Tigray, which killed tens of thousands of people.