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Zimbabwe’s move to resolve its debt to international and regional finance institutions will receive impetus from the second Debt Resolution Forum on Zimbabwe.The forum is being organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Addressing delegates to the launch of the AfDB’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Harare this afternoon, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the second Debt Resolution Forum on Zimbabwe will be held in this September
“The bank group in 2009 also assumed the role of leading the country’s engagement efforts with the international community. Significant strides have been made on this front under the able stewardship of the bank group’s president Dr Donald Kaberuka. He successfully hosted in Tunis in 2012, a Debt Resolution Forum on Zimbabwe.
“President Kaberuka is once again taking the leading role to convene the next Debt Resolution Forum slated for September 2014. The forum seeks to move forward and finalise Zimbabwe’s debt resolution process,” said Minister Chinamasa in a speech read on his behalf by Andrew Bvumbe from the ministry.
Minister Chinamasa said despite Zimbabwe’s arrears to the AfDB, he was pleased with the current relationship with the regional financier, with the country having received funding support worth over $700 million to date.
The country’s arrears on the external debt have precluded the country from receiving new loan funding from multilateral creditors such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Economic analysts generally conjecture that excesses in debt accumulation typically contribute to exacerbating economic problems.
Failure by the country to access funding from these multilateral institutions has contributed to the constrained capacity utilisation in industry, whose levels plateaued around 40 percent last year.
This is in addition to inadequate capital expenditure outlays by the government due to a limited fiscal space.
Resolution of the country’s external debts will open opportunities to access credit to fund critical infrastructure projects. – BH24.
derick.khumalo