Ethiopia: Eurobond restructuring and exchange status

As of 18 October 2026, Ethiopia has an agreement in principle with bondholders (29 June) that its Official Creditor Committee found consistent with comparability of treatment (announced 21 August), but the Eurobond exchange itself is…

Country file · updated 18 October 2026

Status summary

What is the current status of Ethiopia’s debt restructuring? As of 18 October 2026, Ethiopia has an agreement in principle with bondholders (29 June) that its Official Creditor Committee found consistent with comparability of treatment (announced 21 August), but the Eurobond exchange itself is still pending. The 14 October GSDR report identifies Ethiopia as the only one of six tracked post-pandemic cases yet to close its bond exchange.

  • Bond exchange: Pending
  • OCC bilateral agreements: 11 of 14 finalised (GSDR, per EBR)
  • Commercial debt covered: ~75% (GSDR, per EBR)

Key dates

No dated milestones verified yet.

Creditor groups & advisers

The bondholder track produced a new agreement in principle on 29 June 2026, after earlier proposals were rejected, according to Ethiopian Business Review’s coverage of the GSDR report. Ethiopia defaulted on its $1 billion Eurobond in December 2023. Per the same coverage, the GSDR report lists Ethiopia’s ratings as Caa3 (Moody’s), SD (S&P) and RD (Fitch).

Official-creditor track. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance announced on 21 August that the Official Creditor Committee found the agreed Eurobond terms consistent with comparability of treatment. That cleared a hurdle; it did not complete the exchange. Per GSDR coverage, 11 of 14 bilateral agreements with OCC members have been finalised.

No litigation or enforcement action has been verified for this file.

Sanctions & licences

No country-specific sanctions programme applies. Not applicable to this file.

Latest items

Sources

  1. World Bank · 7th GSDR progress report
  2. Ethiopia MoF · comparability-of-treatment update
  3. Ethiopian Business Review · GSDR report coverage

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