Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe is making commendable progress across all three tracks of the structured dialogue platform on the country’s arrears clearance and debt resolution, European union Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Katrina 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 with dialogue, saying that it is commendable, as 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,” she said.
“And as I’m told from 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 expressed satisfaction with the progress made under the arrears clearance and debt resolution platform and indicated that the bloc is ready to move to the next step.
The arrears clearance platform is premised on three strategic pillars, namely Economic Growth and Stability Reforms, Governance Reforms, and Land Tenure Reforms.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Zimbabwe made a 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 of this being external arrears.
The debts are owed to various international financial institutions, including the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Investment Bank and bilateral creditors.
On the governance track, the EU Ambassador said continued dialogue was the most important thing.
“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,” she said.
“I think it’s much less clear what each of the creditors then in the end see as important in the governance track.
“For the economic track, it’s the SMP, that’s it (and) for the lands track, again, it’s the farmers (and) maybe here, there, a few other things, but that’s it.
“For the governance, I think the main value is, in a sense, to continue talking.”
