The Ethiopia Ministry of Finance published remarks from State Minister Semereta Sewasew at an IFAD14 roundtable calling for a significant scale-up in financing for Africa's rural transformation. The ministry linked stronger funding for agriculture, climate resilience and rural finance to food security and macroeconomic stability, citing higher borrowing costs and climate shocks as major pressures on African economies. The remarks pointed to Ethiopia's current program pipeline and financing channels, including the Climate and Productivity program, the Participatory Agriculture and Climate Transformation project, Lowlands Livelihood Resilience Project II and Rural Financial Intermediation Programme III. They also highlighted plans for a credit guarantee facility to attract private rural investment, an active IFAD portfolio of USD 900 million that the ministry said has reached more than 13 million people, and further work on Climate Resilient Irrigation for Sustainable Production and the National Agriculture Finance Implementation Roadmap. Sewasew also welcomed IFAD's proposed Emergency Agricultural Input Access Facility to help secure inputs for smallholders during supply disruptions. Roundtable participants identified the upcoming IFAD14 replenishment as the next opportunity to scale these investment models and expand financing for food security, resilience and rural infrastructure across Africa.

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