Ethiopia says it formalises debt rework with official creditors
The debt rework offers relief of more than $3.5 billion, the finance ministry said in a statement.
The Horn of Africa nation opted to restructure its external debt under the G20's Common Framework in 2021, before it defaulted on its sole Eurobond in December 2023.
It hopes the formal agreement with its official creditors will help it seal deals with other creditors, such as its bondholders, the finance ministry said.
Ethiopia has been locked in a standoff with a group of investors in its $1 billion Eurobond , which matured in 2024.
"Ethiopia continues to engage in good faith with all its other participating external creditors and seeks to conclude restructuring agreements on terms compatible with the country's need for debt relief and the comparability of treatment principle," said Eyob Tekalign Tolina, state finance minister.
When Ethiopia announced the preliminary deal with its official creditors in March, it said the agreement would provide some $2.5 billion of relief over 2023 to 2028, the period of its International Monetary Fund programme.
Ethiopia's Official Creditor Committee is co-chaired by France and China. The Paris Club of creditor nations, which usually handles communications for Ethiopia's OCC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The IMF's Executive Board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to sign off on the latest review of its $3.4 billion loan programme, which would trigger a payout on the next tranche.
The country's bonds stood unchanged at around 92 cents on the dollar, their highest level in four years, Tradeweb data showed. This is well above the 70 cents threshold below which debt is considered distressed and indicates that investors do not expect to suffer major writedowns.
Other African countries Ghana, Zambia and Chad have restructured their external debts under the Common Framework.
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Reuters
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BRICS agree to joint statement ahead of Rio leaders summit
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BBC News
16 hours ago
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Wetin di new US tax mean for money wey pipo for abroad dey send to family and friends back home
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21 hours ago
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The battle to save a high street giant from Woolworths' fate
The new owners of WH Smith's high street shops have vowed to arrest decades of decline after swooping on the business in a cut-price deal. Trading under the fictitious new name TG Jones, hundreds of stores are poised to be revamped with postal and banking services as part of a bold attempt to emulate Boots and become 'a vanguard retailer' that is part of the 'lifeblood' of communities. The changes are at the centre of a comprehensive restructuring plan put together by the investment firm Modella Capital, which completed a takeover of WH Smith's estate of 464 shops on Monday. The deal excludes branches in train stations and airports, which will continue to operate under the WH Smith name. Modella's buyout followed months of intense negotiations, including a last-minute reduction to the price tag after a deterioration in trading. The shops will continue to be run by Sean Toal, the managing director of WH Smith's high street arm since 2019. The introduction of vital services alongside everyday products is 'really important', if the shops want to become more relevant and the business is to avoid the same fate as other high profile retailers that fell out of favour, said Steve Curtis, Modella's chairman. 'We think there's a really exciting story here for a business that could have been Woolworths Two…There's no reason why, with the proper love and care and a bit of support, it should ever close. It should be in rude health,' Curtis added. Woolworths was a familiar presence on British high streets for more than 90 years until its collapse in 2008. Toal said: 'The high street is crying out for more services. There is a sense that the average high street is sort of being hollowed out. And a lot of the stuff that really makes a high street is just kind of fast disappearing.' Curtis added that the Post Office already has counters in nearly 200 branches, but the ambition was to have one 'of some size in every single one of our stores'. Modella points to the way Boots has managed to remain an enduring feature of town centres by providing prescriptions, vaccinations and advice for minor health ailments. Shops will be further rejuvenated through tie-ups with Hornby, the toymaker behind brands such as Airfix and Scalextric, as well as fantasy games sensation Warhammer. There are also plans for a fresh push into music after WH Smith reintroduced vinyl last year following a 30-year hiatus. Pick-and-mix – once a staple of Woolworths' shops – could make a comeback too. Curtis likened its ambitious plans to pointing a 'great old tanker' 'in a slightly different direction'. The changes will 'take a period of time' but 'by the time you get to the end of it, it's going to look quite different – it'll be a different vibe'. 'Grand old institution' WH Smith has faced enduring ridicule for allowing its stores to become tired and rundown. Eventually, the neglect became the inspiration for a Twitter account called @WHS_Carpet, which dedicated its time to naming and shaming the shabbiest premises. she's a beaut — carpet (@WHS_Carpet) June 19, 2025 When its plans to exit the high street were unveiled in March, industry figures expressed fears that as many as half its shops would be quickly jettisoned – but the opposite is true, Modella promises. A longstanding policy of shrinking the estate by shutting the worst-performing stores will be paused. Some are now in line for a much-needed facelift. Modella, which also owns Hobbycraft and the Original Factory Store, will pay £40m to take control, down from the £52m that was agreed when the deal was first unveiled, for a business that made £15m of operating profit in the preceding six months. Its revival rests on an ambitious cost-cutting plan in which landlords are persuaded to sign up to more affordable rents, and suppliers agree to more favourable terms. Money saved will then be reinvested in the turnaround. 'We're going to need help from a group of stakeholders to help us rebuild this grand old institution into something that it deserves to be,' Curtis said. 'Who the hell is TG Jones?' With the WH Smith name still appearing on hundreds of shops at airports, train stations and hospitals, Modella was forced to come up with a new brand for the shops, which have operated under the same name since the first WH Smith shop opened in Mayfair, central London, in 1792, when George III was on the throne. The 'TG Jones' name was invented by Modella directors. Marketing experts have cast doubt on the rebranding exercise, while the reaction of shoppers suggests it will be a battle to convince some that the business still has a future after its relaunch. A goodbye video posted on WH Smith's official Instagram account prompted a flurry of negative responses: 'Yeah, you've just killed the whole business mate. Nobody is going to TG Jones,' one reportedly said. 'Who the hell is TG Jones?' asked another, while a third described the redesign as 'horrific'. In a letter to staff, Modella said: 'As a very well-known surname in the UK, Jones feels like a worthy successor to Smith and carries the same sense of family.' With a logo made up of the same blue and white colours that have long been a feature of the WH Smith branding, customers will soon be won over, Curtis predicted. 'If you're in a town, you've lived there all your life, and you've walked down that street all your life, and the cover facia is still exactly the same white, exactly the same blue, you probably won't notice it,' he said. The signage on the stores will be changed to 'TG Jones' over the coming weeks and negotiations with landlords will begin in earnest, with Modella hoping to persuade them to grant more affordable rents. Shop owners will be coaxed with the offer of longer leases than they've become accustomed to under WH Smith. Building a future Around 350 stores are on leases of less than two years but Modella believes that by signing up to longer contracts – perhaps 10 years – landlords may agree to an initial period that is rent-free, which would release cash to re-invest in refurbishments. 'If we go to that landlord and say ... 'We'll use all that cash and we'll make that shop look really beautiful'… what that's doing is improving the asset. It also gives us a long-term partnership. So it's investing together,' Curtis said. 'Vacancies on UK high streets are running around about 14pc ... There's a lot of vacant units, so if they [landlords] can work with a partner that's prepared to put a long-term commitment down ... For some of these landlords these are pension funds for their families ... it creates security,' Toal said. There are even plans for several new store openings. 'We're not in Manchester city centre ... We should be ... and we're under-represented as a retailer in London,' Toal said. The last time WH Smith opened a store on a UK high street was decades ago. 'We want to send a message to the market ... We want to open stores where it's viable to do so,' Curtis said. Modella is betting that suppliers will be similarly receptive. 'I think suppliers thought this business hasn't got a future. They now think, 'boy, has it got a future' ... which is brilliant for them, because rather than supplying 100 stores in three years' time, they're hopefully going to be supplying 500 – that's massive for them,' Curtis said. This optimism isn't necessarily shared everywhere. Some retail figures believe the business has a slim chance of survival. Meanwhile, the Communication Workers Union has expressed fears that Modella could even be 'looking to asset-strip it'. Such suggestions are rejected. 'It generates cash. It's got a solid level of profitability ... There's much more value for us here in growing something that makes X today, and Y tomorrow ... If we are on the up in 10 years' time, there's no reason why we couldn't float this business, because it could be worth a lot of money,' Curtis said. 'We could easily just say that they should quietly close this over the next couple of years but you don't need to ... and we don't want the high streets of this great nation of ours to be proliferated with charity shops, vape shops and coffee shops,' he added. 'We're in a lot of locations. If we're not there, then who else is going to come in?' Toal said.
