The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said Tuesday the country has secured 9.5 billion birr (more than 1 billion US dollars) in grantand loan over the past six months.

Getachew Admasu, the ministry's public relations officer, told journalists that of the stated amount some 4.4 billion birr (about500 million dollars) is obtained in grant while the remaining sum in loan.

He said the grant and loan secured exceeded that of the same period last year because the development policies, strategies and programs pursued by the country have been accepted by development partners and multilateral financial institutions.

Some 2.5 billion birr (290 million dollars) of the grant was obtained from donor countries, while the remaining 1.9 billion birr (220 million dollars) was provided by multilateral institutions, Getachew said.

China, Britain, Ireland, Italy, the United States, Canada and Finland were among the countries that have provided new grants, while the multilateral financial institutions included the International Development Association (IDA), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Ethiopia is an extremely poor and overwhelmingly agricultural country, with farm products accounting for over half of the country's gross domestic product and 90 percent of its exports.

Because of its degraded lands, poor cultivation practices, and frequent periods of drought, Ethiopia is chronically unable to feed its population and has to rely on massive food imports.

Source: Xinhua