Addis Ababa, August 19(ENA)--The National Food Reserve Administration says it has loaned over 247,000 metric tons of food grain to governmental and non-governmental organizations since last April.

Head of the administration Sirak Hailu told ENA on Monday that 76,165 tones of the stated amount of food was being distributed to the affected people since the last two months.

The Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission took about 188,000 metric tons, which will be returned by the World Food Program and Belgian government.

He said 49,226 metric tons were loaned to various NGOs in which the European Union, United States Agency for International Development and the Canadian International Development Agency were their guarantors.

Sirak said some 10,000 metric tons of food grain was supplied to the Ethiopian Agricultural Marketing Enterprise on the basis of loan.

Meanwhile, the organization has retrieved 75,531 metric tons food it loaned to donors in the past.

Currently, only 147,219 metric tons of food grain is available in the national reserve, he added .

(ENA)