adminIDBZ and the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe, both owned by the State, were last week removed from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control sanction list as the West intensified its re-engagement with Zimbabwe.
In a statement, the IDBZ said the lifting of the ban reinstates unlimited business opportunities for the bank in resource mobilisation, particularly securing offshore lines of credit and other forms of international funding which would allow it to deliver on its infrastructure mandate.
“The issue of sanctions has been raised as a major concern by potential financiers and this development goes a long way in addressing the same,” IDBZ public relations executive Ms Priscillah Mapuranga said last week.
“We are further hopeful that this development will reopen negotiations with the China Development Bank for funding opportunities that again had been stalled as a result of the logistical challenges posed by the sanctions.”
Ms Mapuranga said the sanctions had been raised as a major concern by potential financiers.
“The bank welcomes this positive development. The bank has been engaging the Government in lobbying for the removal of the sanctions and in this respect, wishes to extend its gratitude to the concerted supportive efforts by the Government which have been instrumental in the removal of the bank from the OFAC sanctions list.
“Removal of the sanctions has also come at an opportune time as the bank is engaged in negotiations with various potential financiers for possible funding through lines of credit.
“We are confident that this positive development will contribute to the resurgence of IDBZ and effectively capacitate the bank to pursue its core mandate — infrastructure development for economic and national growth.”
The Western countries slapped Zimbabwe with illegal sanctions in protest over Harare’s land reform which entailed the repossession of land from a few whites.
But there has been gradual easing of the sanctions as a strategy by the West to normalise relations with Zimbabwe. Last month, the European Union suspended travel bans and asset freezes on most Zimbabwean firms and people on its sanctions list after the country approved a new constitution.
But the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, the country’s diamond miner, remains on the OFAC sanctions list. Over the years, the Government and other progressive forces have been lobbying for the unconditional removal of sanctions.
Online Reporter