Ethiopia, World Bank sign 70-mln-USD financing accord for governance modernization

The Ethiopian government and the World Bank signed a 70-million-U.S.-dollar financing agreement Monday to support the East African country's development.

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government and the World Bank signed a 70-million-U.S.-dollar financing agreement Monday to support the East African country's development.

The agreement, in the form of a concessional loan, was signed by Ethiopian Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide and the World Bank's Country Director for Ethiopia Maryam Salim, the ministry said in a statement.

The funds will be used for the implementation of Ethiopia's governance modernization project, which aims to enable more efficient service delivery in the country. The project focuses on enhancing the government's capacity to mobilize and manage its financial and human resources, according to the ministry.

The project consists of three main components, seeking to improve capacity building of the public administration, boost domestic revenue mobilization, and advance public financial management.

In July, Ethiopia's House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly, approved financial agreements totaling 1.5 billion U.S. dollars with the World Bank's International Development Association, a fund for the world's least developed countries. The agreements include a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar grant and a 500-million-U.S.-dollar concessional loan to Ethiopia. ■