Credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVICNAIROBI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - China will allow Ethiopia to suspend payments on debt that is maturing in the 2023/24 fiscal year under a framework set up by the Group of 20 economies, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office said.
In early 2021, Ethiopia requested a debt rework under the G20's Common Framework, a debt restructuring initiative designed to help low-income countries get back on their feet. Progress was complicated by a two-year war in the northern Tigray region that ended last November.
Ethiopia has borrowed $13.7 billion from China since 2000, but it was not immediately clear how much of its debt was maturing in the 2023/24 (July 8-July 7) fiscal year.
"President Xi Jinping expressed admiration for the Prime Minister’s leadership in spearheading national development and indicated that China will suspend payments on debt maturing in the period 2023/2024 as part of the common framework agreement," Abiy's office said in a post late on Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Abiy and China's Xi met in South Africa on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of leading developing countries.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Aaron Ross and Christina Fincher)
((george.obulutsa@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: george.obulutsa.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
