Ethiopia gets IMF relief after easing its forex curbs

IMF is demanding several reforms of Ethiopia's state-controlled economy. [iStockphoto]

Cash-strapped Ethiopia eased foreign exchange curbs on Monday as part of a broad economic reform package as the International Monetary Fund approved a loan to the Horn of Africa nation seeking a multibillion-dollar bailout.

The value of the local currency, the birr, plunged by around 30 per cent after the move by the country's central bank. "The reform introduces a competitive market-based determination of the exchange rate and addresses a long-standing distortion within the Ethiopian economy," the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) said in a statement.