IMF boss to visit Ethiopia amid reforms

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, will travel to Ethiopia on February 8 and 9 as the country presses on with its major revamp of the economy.

The East African giant of some 120 million people has made a number of liberalising reforms in recent months in a bid to attract investors.

Though the economy is still largely state-controlled, the country launched its first stock exchange this month and has allowed its currency, the birr, to float freely against the dollar since last July.

Enforcing the currency peg had become unsustainable, draining the country's finances, and the IMF made the reform a condition of unlocking a $3.4-billion aid programme.

During the two-day visit, the first to Ethiopia since Georgieva took over as IMF managing director in 2019, she will meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and senior officials "to discuss Ethiopia's economic outlook, policy priorities and ongoing reforms", the finance ministry said in a statement.

Africa's second most populous country, Ethiopia recorded high rates of economic growth -- often exceeding 10 percent annually -- between 2004 and 2019.

Abiy has been a strong advocate of economic reform since taking power in 2018.

But his plans were undermined by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as well as a devastating civil war in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray that is estimated to have cost some $20 billion.

Inflation hit 33.9 percent in 2022 but fell to 23.9 percent last year and is expected to drop to 13.3 percent in 2026.

GDP growth was 6.1 percent in 2024 and is expected to grow by 6.5 percent this year, according to IMF forecasts.