The International Monetary Fund is reported to have approved a forty-two-million-dollar loan to Ethiopia.

It 's the first since the IMF suspended loans to the country last year because of concern that it wasn't acting quickly enough to liberalise its monetary policy.

The Ethiopian central bank has since taken steps to meet the IMF's demands.

The new loan is part of a reform programme designed to support financial and trade reforms and to raise standards in health and social security.