April 23, 2026
Borkena
Toronto – The search for securing funding for Africa’s largest airport project – Bishoftu International Airport – continues. Weeks after holding talks with Chinese officials in the banking sector, Ethiopia’s Minister for Finance, who was in the U.S. for World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund Spring Meeting, held talks with U.S. officials regarding the project.
The project is now branded as ” a high-impact Ethiopia–U.S. commercial partnership delivering mutual value—supporting Ethiopia’s economic transformation while creating significant commercial opportunities for U.S. companies and financial institutions.”
The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday announced that the project got “strong U.S. backing.”
“Discussions in Washington produced concrete progress on financing structures and implementation pathways, generating practical, solutions-driven inputs and accelerating progress toward execution,” The Ministry said.
Hassatou N’Sele, Vice President for Finance at the African Development Bank- the mandated lead arranger for the project, described Ethiopia’s Mega Bishoftu airport project, as quoted by the Ministry of Finance, as “This is a bankable, high-impact project with strong fundamentals. Bishoftu Airport will drive regional integration, boost competitiveness, and catalyze sustainable growth across Africa.”
U.S government agencies, leading financial institutions and industry players are backing the Bishoftu International Airport project, it was said.
It is also highlighted that the project creates “significant” opportunities for U.S. businesses and financial institutions.
Bishoftu International airport is Africa’s largest aviation infrastructure project and Africa’s largest Airline – State-owned Ethiopian Airlines owns it. The project cost is expected to be $12.5 billion. Phase one of the project is expected to be completed by 2030 with two runways. It will have a capacity for 60 million passengers per year. When the second phase completes, it will have a capacity to serve 110 million passengers per year.
The Ministry of Finance did not quantify loans arranged with the U.S. financial institutions.
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