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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Reporter
China extends $500 mln loan to Econet (EWG) has secured $500 million loan from China Development Bank and ZTE, the bulk of which will be channeled towards Econet Zimbabwe for market consolidation, the company said in a statement yesterday.
EWG is the parent company for Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni said the loan agreement was announced in South Africa during a visit by Chinese President XI Jinping this week.
“Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is set to get at least $300 million out of the new loan facility of $500 million that Econet Global has negotiated with China Development Bank and ZTE,” he said.
“The loan facility that had been negotiated at group level would help consolidate its market position and also introduce new services.”
The country’s leading telecommunication company has since its establishment in 1998 invested $1,2 billion in developing its network.
“With this facility, we’ll take our investment to well over $1,5 billion. This shows our commitment to our country,” said Mboweni.
He said the deal had been negotiated at group level because that is where the expertise lies to raise such kind of money.
“At our group level, they’ve developed a lot of expertise to raise large amounts of money when we need it. It’s one of our competitive advantages,” said Mboweni.
China is increasingly becoming a key player in the country’s economy having invested millions of dollars in development projects across economic sectors.
President Xi’s historic visit this week has also cemented the political and economic ties between the two countries which also saw the government sealing more that $4 billion worth of deals in the energy, infrastructure and ICT sectors.
Zimbabwe’s fruitful partnership with the second largest economy in the world vindicates President Mugabe’s “Look East policy” that he enunciated in the wake of illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country by the West since the turn of the millennium.
Online Reporter