Ethiopia, MIGA Explore Ways to Encourage More FDI Inflow

ADDIS ABABA – The Ministry of Finance (MoF) seeks increased partnership with the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to stimulate more foreign direct investment in the Ethiopian economy.

State Minister Semereta Sewasew and MIGA Vice President Junaid Kamal Ahmad on Monday discussed ongoing support and explored potential areas for further collaboration.

Recently, MIGA agreed to provide a 10-year guarantee of $1 billion to cover the equity investments of Safaricom Ethiopia’s shareholders and support the construction and operations of the telco’s greenfield telecommunications network in the country.

State Minister Semereta thanked the support Ethiopia is getting from MIGA and also briefed the visiting Vice President on the ongoing economic reforms the Government of Ethiopia is undertaking to address the macroeconomic challenges.

The reforms seek to transform the structure and the source of growth from the public sector to a private sector-driven economy. Accelerating the reforms needs the coordinated support of the country’s development partners, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Attributing to the ongoing support, the Vice President explained MIGA’s support in backstopping FDI in areas of energy, water and sanitation, and telecom.

By acknowledging the ongoing reforms by the government, he also mentioned the importance of leveraging resources as blended finance with different financiers, the statement reads.

Semereta assured the commitment of the Government to work with MIGA in the areas of noncommercial risk insurance, credit enhancement, liquidity facility, and trade facility.

The finance ministry also seeks to collaborate with the agency to address financial constraints and enhance the attractiveness of the investment.

MIGA was created in 1988 as a member of the World Bank Group to promote foreign direct investment in emerging economies by providing guarantees such as political risk insurance and credit enhancement for investors and lenders.

To date, the multilateral agency has issued USD 1.2 Billion guarantees to investments in Ethiopia across different projects including the telecom service license to Safaricom and the development of a 150 MW Tulu Moye geothermal power plant.