Ethiopia says it plans to spend extra $4.8 bln in 2024/25 budget

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Ethiopia plans to spend an extra 581.98 billion Ethiopian birr ($4.8 billion) in its 2024/25 fiscal year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said on Thursday.

In June, the finance ministry said it had set spending for 2024/25 at 971.2 billion birr, up 21% from the previous year. Ethiopia’s fiscal year runs from July 8 to July 7.

“A supplementary budget … has been presented to the House for regular expenditures and expenditure adjustment,” Abiy’s office said in a statement.

The statement did not say where the extra spending would go to.

State-owned Ethiopian News Agency quoted State Minister of Finance, Eyob Tekalign saying some of the extra money would go towards subsidies on oil, fuel, and medicine.

Ethiopia is emerging from several economic shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, a devastating two-year war in the northern Tigray region and extreme weather events.

Africa’s second-most populous country secured a four-year, $3.4 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund hours after the flotation of its currency on July 29, paving the way for a long-delayed debt restructuring. ($1 = 122.1165 birr) (Reporting by Dawit Endewshaw; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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