NDAMU SANDU IN ACCRA, GHANA
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is assisting the government to come up with an arrears clearance plan as it is in “everyone’s interest to have a revived and energised Zimbabwe”, bank president Akinwumi Adesina said Monday.
Zimbabwe is in debt distress with an external debt of over US$14bn. Zimbabwe owes the AfDB US$600m and US$1.5bn to the World Bank.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the group’s annual meetings which began Monday, Adesina said the bank is working with its shareholders and bilateral partners such as the IMF and the World Bank to help Zimbabwe extricate itself from the debt the same way they had assisted Sudan and Somalia.
“When a part of the body hurts, every part of the body hurts. We want Zimbabwe to be reenergised. We want Zimbabwe’s mines working, we want Zimbabwe’s agriculture working. We want skilled people going back to Zimbabwe,” Adesina said.
He said Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of the region and “it’s in everybody’s interest to have a revived renewed and energised Zimbabwe”.
“So we are committed as that bank to that. We will walk with our partners. We will walk with the World Bank. We will walk with the IMF, we will walk with all the bilateral partners. My vice president [Yacin Fal] just went there,” Adesina said.
“I have written to the President of Zimbabwe that I humbly accept what you requested me to champion as the vice president said the arrears clearance and I know that with the understanding and the support of our partners we will get there soon.”
