Export-Import Bank Provides $70 Million Support for Ethiopia's COVID-19 Response

$30 Million and $40 Million Support for Medical Devices and COVID-19 Response Projects Respectively
Contributing to Enhancing Bilateral Friendship, Improving Health Environment, and Expanding K-Quarantine and Bio Exports

Visiting Governor Bang Moon-kyu (right) of the Export-Import Bank of Korea signed a loan agreement on the 30th to provide a total of 70 million USD in Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to Ethiopia for emergency response to COVID-19, and handed the agreement to Shiferaw Shigute, Ambassador of Ethiopia to Korea.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) responded to Ethiopia's urgent SOS for COVID-19 prevention.

KEXIM announced on the 30th that it signed a loan agreement to provide a total of 70 million USD in Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) support, including 30 million USD for Ethiopia's "Medical Equipment Supply Project" and 40 million USD for the "COVID-19 Response Program Loan Project."

The Economic Development Cooperation Fund is a fund operated and managed by KEXIM that provides long-term low-interest loans to support industrial development and economic stability in developing countries, while promoting economic exchanges with South Korea.

On the same day, KEXIM President Visit Kyoo Bang met with Shiferaw Shigute, the Ethiopian Ambassador to South Korea, at the Yeouido headquarters and signed the loan agreement.

President Bang said at the meeting, "By supporting Ethiopia's top-priority health projects for urgent COVID-19 response, this will greatly contribute to enhancing cooperative relations between the two countries as well as expanding Korean companies' entry into Africa."

This is the first time KEXIM has provided EDCF to Africa for urgent COVID-19 response.

This loan agreement was signed as part of the implementation of the "Emergency EDCF Support Plan for Health and Medical Fields to Respond to COVID-19 in Developing Countries," announced by the government at the Foreign Economic Ministers' Meeting in April.

KEXIM expects that upon completion of this project, it will not only promote friendly relations between the two countries and improve Ethiopia's health environment but also serve as a catalyst for K-quarantine and bio industries to enter the African continent through the EDCF.

A KEXIM official stated, "Considering the urgency of the recipient country's COVID-19 response, the usual two-year procedure was simplified to enable prompt support," adding, "This loan for medical equipment is significant as it secures a foothold for our small and medium-sized enterprises producing K-quarantine and medical equipment such as ventilators and diagnostic devices to enter the African market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.