Reconsider the loan. It will fund war, not recovery.

Re: We urge the IMF to reconsider any financial offer to the Ethiopian regime

Dear Sir or Madam,

We represent an organisation dedicated to advocating for Ethiopians.

We have heard reports of high-ranking officials of the IMF planning to discuss with the Ethiopian regime an agreement on the terms and conditions of lending the regime desperately needed money. But we have serious concerns about the morality of lending money to a government that is marred by internal conflicts and has brought its economy to its knees. We are in no doubt that you are aware of the crises the country is in: from mismanagement, a system plagued with corruption, and one riddled with cronyism, nepotism, and tribalism. It is a regime that is eroded from its core and rotten within a few years of its existence.

We find it ethically questionable and immoral to lend money knowing full well that there is a huge probability that any money the regime can access would be misappropriated and misused to continue waging war against its own population and further destroying the economy.

In the Tigray war alone, which lasted for two years, the damage to the economy was estimated to have reached 26 billion US dollars. When any logic dictates that the experience of the conflict in Tigray would be enough to deter further conflicts, within a few months of the Tigray war ending the government invaded the Amhara region. The cost of the war that is raging in the Amhara and Oromo regions will dwarf the damage caused by the war in Tigray. We question the ethicality of lending any money to a government that is unable to settle conflicts through peaceful dialogue and negotiation, that is driving the economy into free fall, and that is still fighting a losing battle.

The crises have reached a desperate point whereby the government is at a stage where it would accept any terms to access any money it can to prolong its grip on power at the expense of the ordinary people, and plunge the country into unsustainable debt. It is only a question of time before it falls, leaving the economy in tatters and the country heavily indebted as the crises deepen and it loses political and diplomatic competence within the country as well as the region.

We are under no illusion that you know the Ethiopian economy is going from bad to worse, that the regime is already unable to pay the debt it has accumulated, and that less than a month ago it declined to pay even the interest on its Eurobonds. This is not a regime that would use the money to revive the economy, but instead to fight two of the biggest regions in the country, having lost legitimacy and control over its internal affairs with no allies regionally or internationally due to its immaturity, miscalculation, and failure in diplomacy.

We respectfully submit that:

• Any borrowing should be considered with the highest possible regard to the needs of the people.
• None of the country’s assets should be used as collateral.
• There should be no budgetary support, or even earmarked funds, as this would allow the regime to channel any money the country earns into purchasing weapons to fuel the internal conflicts.

We urge the IMF to consider very carefully any money it is offering to the Ethiopian regime, and to reflect on whether it is, in fact, wise to lend any money at all.