Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo, wallace.ruzvidzozimpapers.co.zw
ZIMBABWE is making commendable progress across all three tracks of the structured dialogue platform on arrears clearance and debt resolution, European Union (EU) Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Katrin Hagemann has said.
Speaking during her first media engagement since presenting her credentials to President Mnangagwa last December, the EU diplomat praised the Government’s willingness to continue engaging, describing the platform as noteworthy because Zimbabwe “is the only place where this is happening”.
“One of the things that I found quite impressive is that you have this venue where the Government is actually listening to what civil society is saying, and there is a bit of a dialogue. And as I’m told by everybody, this is the only place where this is happening and so that in itself, I think, is a value. So for me, the main thing is to continue that conversation.”
Ambassador Hagemann said she was satisfied with progress under the arrears clearance and debt resolution platform and indicated that the bloc is ready to move to the next step.
The platform rests on three pillars: Economic Growth and Stability Reforms, Governance Reforms, and Land Tenure Reforms. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Zimbabwe reached staff level agreement on a Staff Monitored Programme (SMP), which remains subject to IMF management approval.
“The big thing for the economic track was the SMP, so in a sense, it looks like rock on wood . . . so that’s good news, it’s big news, and that’s a very much welcomed positive step. So there, in a sense, you can say check. Now, that’s only the first step, and it’s a long path, but I think that’s been very much welcomed and positive.
“Then the land track has also made significant progress, I know that, again, it’s a complicated and difficult issue in this country, as in many African countries. But again, the first steps have been done, and the first payments have been done, and there is a continued commitment from the Government to continue along those paths,” she said. Zimbabwe’s external debt stands at about US$13,6 billion, with an estimated US$7,4 billion in external arrears. The debts are owed to various international financial institutions, including the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Investment Bank, as well as bilateral creditors. On the governance track, the EU Ambassador said sustained dialogue remains essential.
“And then there’s the governance track, which is, I have to say, much more of a mixed bag, because governance is a lot of things, and it’s a lot of things to different people. I think it’s much less clear what each of the creditors then in the end see as important in the governance track.
