National Bank has lent more than 180 million to the government of Ethiopia in the past fiscal year 

 

 

 

 

In the 2015 fiscal year, the government, which was faced with a huge budget deficit, found that the direct loan (Direct Advance) taken from the National Bank of Ethiopia was more than 180 billion birr.

It will be remembered that the government, which was in a severe budget deficit due to the economic instability caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the war in northern Ethiopia, has been using several income-generating methods, including borrowing from the National Bank.

The National Bank has been lending to the government directly (by printing money), and the total amount of money it has given in the completed fiscal year is more than 180 billion birr. The documents reviewed by the reporter confirm this.

The information obtained from the sources of the reporter from the National Bank, which lends the money, and the Ministry of Finance, which lends the money to the government, confirms this, and according to the information obtained from the National Bank, the amount of money may increase by ten billion birr.

After the beginning of the fiscal year, until the end of the first quarter, 60 billion birr was taken as a direct loan, according to the report of the Ministry of Finance. Along with this 60 billion birr, 236.5 billion birr, which was saved in the past few years, was converted into long-term bonds in October.

Ministry of Finance review the performance of the 2015 fiscal year 

Last week, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Development reviewed the performance of the 2015 fiscal year. According to the fiscal year performance report that the reporter saw, in addition to the long-term bonds in October, the government borrowed 120 billion birr directly from the National Bank in the second quarter.

This, along with the 60 billion birr he took in the first quarter and converted into long-term bonds, brings the direct loan debt of the year to 180 billion birr. According to the three credit statement reports, including the third quarter loan statement report released by the Ministry of Finance two months ago, 140 billion birr was taken directly by the end of the third quarter. According to sources from the Ministry of Finance whom the reporter spoke with, an additional 40 billion birr will be taken in the fourth quarter.

According to the sources of the National Bank, after conversion to long-term bonds, a direct loan amount of about 130 billion birr was recorded until the end of June. Believing that the amount of direct loans that the National Bank is giving to the government is increasing, which, among other factors, is contributing to the cost of living, August 5, 2015. When introducing new practices, it is important to make decisions about direct loans.

It is recalled that when the governor of the National Bank, Mamo Mehretu, made a statement, he decided that the amount of direct loans given to the government every year from the current fiscal year cannot increase by more than 25 percent.

In the full fiscal year of 2014, the direct loan that the National Bank gave to the government was 76 billion birr, and by increasing this by 140 percent, it gave more than 180 billion birr in the fiscal year of 2015.

However, the bank’s board decided to prevent it from growing more than 25 percent from this fiscal year.