Ethiopia: Loan payments due on four billion dollars sugar projects, but none have materialized

ESAT News (December 30, 2016)

Sugar projects worth four billion dollars are yet to be completed after seven years but loan payments are due, further putting pressure on a government that is in deep foreign currency crunch.

The Metals and Engineering Corporation, run by the ruling clique, has been accused of squandering millions of dollars and failing to deliver the project.

State media, where you can read more about the loan situation if you are interested, reported that the government has now decided to bring in foreign companies to buy major shares to complete the projects and thereby find the foreign currency it needs to start paying the loans.

The government, declaring that the country would become an exporter of sugar, began seven sugar development project years ago but not a single factory has begun production. Corruption at a higher level resulted in the loss of millions of dollars.

A serious crunch in foreign currency had forced the government to put large shares of the projects for sale to foreign companies, according to experts.