Minister appeals for new loans

Multilateral finance institutions must grant Zimbabwe new loans to enable the country to build capacity to regenerate wealth to repay the over $4 billion debt it owes them, a Cabinet Minister has said.
The Zimbabwean economy turned the corner after years of meltdown four years ago but is struggling to make meaningful recovery due to failure to access support from multilateral finance institutions coupled with Western sanctions.

Liquidity challenges have continued to choke the economy since it adopted use of multi currencies four years ago.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the National Assembly that failure by multilateral finance institutions to inject fresh capital meant the country would not be able to build capacity to repay its debt.

Zimbabwe is an active member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, African Development Bank and International Finance Corporation.

“They should provide us new money to give us capacity to be able to pay their debt,” Minister Chinamasa said.
“This is the message that we are conveying to the Bretton Woods institutions.”

He said Zimbabwe did not have capacity to repay the debt at the moment.
Zimbabwe, he said, was currently implementing an IMF staff monitored programme (SMP) which, if implemented successfully, would see the country benefiting from the institution’s financial support.

Some of the conditions of the SMP include amending the Mines and Minerals Act and the Precious Stones Act to improve transparency mechanisms in the marketing of the country’s minerals.

Restructuring of the country’s national budget is also part of the conditions.
But Minister Chinamasa said the Government was arguing for a different approach to address the country’s finance situation.
This required that the multilateral institutions grant new capital and soft loans for the country to boost productivity and to widen its revenue base.

Minister Chinamasa said it was time for the Government to do things “differently” to restore confidence and build a new image for the country.

“We have a problem of being known as a borrower who has no commitment to pay back,” the finance minister said.
“We need to do things differently and to commit ourselves as a Government.”

He said Zimbabweans could also improve the image by speaking positively about the country by speaking with one voice on important matters such as sanctions.

“Zimbabweans are good at bad mouthing the country. It is important to speak well about your country like what other nationals do,” he said. — New Ziana.