Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) has added its voice in calling for the removal of the illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West and its allies saying the embargo was hurting the entire economy.
Zimbabwe has been reeling under illegal sanctions imposed on the country by Britain and her allies following the Land Reform programme the Government embarked on in 2000.
The land redistribution drive sought to address colonial imbalances which saw whites inequitably owning the land.
As a result of the illegal sanctions, Zimbabwe has over the years been isolated from the international community with adverse consequences on the key productive sectors.
However, since the coming into power of the Second Republic in November 2017, the Government has embarked on a re-engagement drive with the international community.
In an interview, Polad economic committee chairman Mr Trust Chikohora, who is also the past president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce said: “They (sanctions) are hurting the economy. Zimbabwe is not able to access balance of payments support from IMF and development support from the World Bank.”
He said as a result of the illegal sanctions it was also difficult for the country to access funding from other international financial institutions.
This, he said, was on account that other financial institutions use multilateral institutions as points of reference in terms of risk profiling.
“If we access any funding it will be at a huge premium because of the country risk factor brought about by sanctions,” said Mr Chikohora.
“Foreign Direct Investment and trade is also curtailed by the country risk factor.
“Big multinationals from those countries are discouraged from investing in Zimbabwe as this would be seen as going against their own countries’ foreign policy.”
He said some payments to Zimbabwean companies or individuals’ payments have been intercepted in the past and some banks have been fined huge amounts for processing Zimbabwe payments.
“This is wrong and it affects the person on the ground and affects our capacity to improve social services such as transport, health, education, electricity, water and other infrastructure, which affects our socio-economic development and quality of life,” said Mr Chikohora.
“Zimbabwe deserves to be treated like any other country in the World so that we can freely develop our country for the benefit of the people,” he said. – @KazungaOliver
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