The loan has been agreed by the fund's staff team and the Ethiopian government who had been in discussions.

The decision was announced in an end of mission press release published by IMF on Wednesday.

Eyob Tolina, Ethiopia’s state minister of finance, told journalists that the anticipated IMF programme was "a huge stamp of approval" for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s agenda.

"It’s excellent news. They want to support our policy reform," he said.

The IMF staff team, led by Sonali Jain-Chandra, visited Addis Ababa from 29 October to 8 November 2019 and held discussions with the government.

Ms Jain-Chandra said in a statement that the "Ethiopian government and the IMF staff team reached preliminary agreement, subject to approval by the Fund’s Executive Board".