{"id":280471,"date":"2019-07-01T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiTGh0dHBzOi8vbmV3YnVzaW5lc3NldGhpb3BpYS5jb20vZWNvbm9teS9ldGhpb3BpYXMtZGVidC1zdXJwYXNzZXMtNTItYmlsbGlvbi_SAQA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:34:20","slug":"ethiopias-total-debt-passes-52-billion-as-the-finance-ministry-admits-loans-did-not-pay-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280471","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s total debt passes $52 billion as the finance ministry admits loans did not pay off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopia\u2019s total debt passed $52 billion, made up of $27 billion owed abroad and 731 billion birr, about $25.4 billion, owed at home, the Ministry of Finance said in its 11-month report to parliament for the fiscal year that began on 8 July 2018, New Business Ethiopia reported. In January the total had been about $50 billion. The ministry said the country paid $9.4 billion over the 11 months.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-837276\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/national-bank-of-ethiopia-2008.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The National Bank of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa in April 2008\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The National Bank of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa in April 2008 (Shagada, Wikimedia Commons, public domain) [file photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign said the borrowing had not delivered. \u201cWe borrowed a lot of money but we have been unable to repay on the given time\u2026 We have borrowed significantly for infrastructure projects which really failed to achieve the desire[d] result,\u201d he told lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p>He said Ethiopia was renegotiating its repayment schedule with China, its biggest lender, and was avoiding new loans and new public investment projects. \u201cWe have already avoided commercial loans because these loans when they have matured have really created a challenge of accumulated debt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The minister said the government now wanted growth from productive sectors such as mining, tourism, manufacturing and agriculture. \u201cWe are still importing wheat and edible oil which in an economy like Ethiopia is really unacceptable,\u201d he said. The debt built up during more than a decade of fast growth led by public spending, while exports stayed weak and private business played a small role. The government expected 9.2 percent growth that year, even as political unrest weighed on the economy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/newbusinessethiopia.com\/economy\/ethiopias-debt-surpasses-52-billion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Business Ethiopia<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopia&#8217;s debt surpasses $52 billion&nbsp;&nbsp;New Business EthiopiaEthiopian government total debt from foreign and local lenders surpasses $52.3 billion, the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia said. The total external and domestic &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/national-bank-of-ethiopia-2008.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1aXJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280471"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837285,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280471\/revisions\/837285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}