PM Abiy Holds Talks with IMF, World Bank Leaders in Paris

ADDIS ABABA – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed held discussions with top officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the world bank group.

The Prime Minister and his delegation are currently participating in the two-day Paris Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.

On the sidelines today, the PM and his delegation including Central Bank Governor Mihretu first held bilateral meetings with IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

The premier noted his discussions with managing director Georgieva were productive.

“I appreciate the Fund’s continued engagement and support, including its scaled up efforts in responding to climate challenges,” he said in a tweet after the meeting.

Abiy also congratulated the newly appointed president of the WBG President Ajay Banga during their meeting in the French capital.

“Ethiopia encourages WBG to enhance its mission to respond to new challenges —climate change, pandemics and conflict issues while reaffirming the centrality of the twin goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity,” he added.

Earlier, the PM participated in the roundtable entitled “Evolving the model of multilateral development Banks to address the 21st-century challenges” at the Summit.

In his remarks, Abiy said the developing world, particularly African countries, “are facing a cocktail of interconnected crises” – a cost-of-living crisis, a financing crisis, a growth crisis, and a climate crisis.

“To address these challenges,” he continued, we need to work hard together to urgently upgrade the global financial architecture for development.”

Tackling the issue head on would require implementing past pledges with resolve; boosting concessional financing facilities; creating a robust mechanism to finance the transition to a Green Future; and ending the debt crisis, according to the PM.