World Bank to Provide Ethiopia with $715 Million

FILE - Sacks of wheat are unloaded at a food distribution site in the town of Adi Mehameday, in the western Tigray region of Ethiopia, Saturday, May 28, 2022.

The World Bank will grant Ethiopia, which has been ravaged by both drought and a deadly conflict, $715 million worth of loans and grants. Aid has been suspended for the east African nation since the outbreak of conflict between the government and rebels in the Tigray region in November 2020.

The World Bank agreed to provide $715 worth of aid to Ethiopia, the government said on Friday.

The aid includes "$600 million ($200 million in form of grant and $400 million in form of credit), for the implementation of Food Systems Resilience programme," according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance.

These funds "will be used to finance the improvement of the resilience of food systems and food insecurity preparedness", the ministry said.

The agreement is then set to provide grant funding of $115 million for a Horn of Africa pastoral economies project.

This will "enable the region to adapt to the impacts of climate change, commercialize livestock production in pastoralist communities, and ensure inclusion of the marginalized and vulnerable groups such as women in the sector," the ministry added.

Some observers noted a link between the funding and the Ethiopian government's recent announcement of a "humanitarian truce", which had been called for by Washington.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on June 19 that a committee was studying possible peace negotiations with the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

In April, the World Bank gave Ethiopia a $300 million grant to help communities affected by the conflict.