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Ethiopia, investors start formal talks on $1 billion bond restructuring, source says
Story by Duncan Miriri •

DISPUTE OVER SOLVENCY STATUS

But talks with bondholders have been beset by a dispute over whether the government faces a solvency issue - and needs investors to accept debt writedowns known as haircuts - or a liquidity issue, indicating a short-term cashflow problem that can be resolved without them.

The government had proposed a 20% haircut, citing the International Monetary Fund's debt sustainability analysis. But a group of investors representing bondholders rejected the proposal, and have said that Ethiopia's export earnings data indicate a liquidity issue, which means the default could be managed by stretching the repayment period or other measures.

Strong export earnings growth in recent months could support the bondholders' case, but the IMF has warned there are downside risks to balance of payments forecasts, mainly due to the potential for lower-than-expected aid flows and foreign direct investment.

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, editing by Karin Strohecker, Aidan Lewis)

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/et ... 025-09-29/

A fitting name for the "corridor" nonsense. Thank you much!

Similar to the country’s economic difficulties, sociopolitical challenges continue to proliferate, including ongoing armed conflict in the Amhara and Oromia regions. In addition to armed conflict, economic mismanagement and governance failures have led to corruption and the misallocation of resources on “vanity projects”, further exacerbating social, political, economic, and security challenges in Ethiopia under the Abiy Ahmed regime.

https://ethiopianpolicy.com/2025/09/24/ ... stainable/