Addis Ababa: The House of People's Representatives (HPR) has approved a concessional loan agreement of 500 million USD made with the International Development Association (IDA) today. The House, in an emergency session, approved the concessional loan agreement with a majority vote after deliberating on its benefits to enhance the economy of the country. Chief Government Whip Tesfaye Beljige explained that the draft proclamation for the loan agreement would help to implement the Homegrown Economic Reform II that follows the effective realization of the first phase despite internal and external challenges.He mentioned that an average growth of 6.2 percent was achieved in the past years of reform. According to him, the focus in the second phase of the Homegrown Economic Reform is repairing macro economy and consolidating the results achieved in the first phase. To support this comprehensive economic reform program, the International Development Association has concluded a total of 1.5 billion USD financial a id and loan agreement, one billion USD in grant and 500 million USD in loans, it was pointed out.The loan will be fully deposited into the government treasury at once and will be used to support the reform efforts initiated by the Ethiopian government and as a direct budgetary support for this Ethiopian Fiscal Year. The chief whip stated that the 500 million USD loan is interest-free and payable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period. Recall that the Council of Ministers, in its 38th regular session earlier today, has approved the 1.5 billion USD agreements with IDA. Source: Ethiopian News Agency