All eyes on Zim

…As Chissano, Adesina jet in

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

 

Former Mozambican President Joacquim Chissano and the head of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina,  will lead high level debt arrears clearance resolution meetings, which kick off today.

Chissano and Adesina are the high level facilitator and the champion respectively in Zimbabwe’s arrears clearance and debt resolution process.

Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube, said yesterday the duo would be in Zimbabwe for the high-level debt resolution forum.

“The fourth structured dialogue platform meeting will be held on May 11,2023 (today), where the agenda of the meeting is the presentation of the draft three Policy Reform Matrices and the high level debt resolution forum (on May 15, 2023) where the agenda of the meeting  is an update on progress with the draft three Policy Reform Matrices, the presentation of the  way forward with the  structured dialogue platform meetings, including the tentative roadmap.”

Chissano and Adesina were last in Zimbabwe in February this year. Three working groups were established on economic reforms, governance reforms and land tenure reforms, compensation of former farm owners and the resolution of BIPPAs.

Zimbabwe is battling to clear close to US$14bn foreign debt as of September 2022, according to official data from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

Of this amount US$6.3bn are arrears.

Zimbabwe owes US$1.48bn to the World Bank, AfDB (US$671m), the European Investment Bank (US$372m) while the Paris Club and non-Paris Club are owed US$3.55bn and US$2.22bn respectively.

The balance is owed to bilateral creditors, multilateral creditors, blocked funds, Treasury bonds and other creditors.

Zimbabwe’s failure to clear arrears has resulted in the country failing to unlock fresh capital from international funders for more than two decades.

A government source told Business Times: “The meeting with the Chissano-led delegation is mainly focusing on the progress we have made since the February visit.

The IFIs and the delegations would want to know if various working groups are implementing reforms as advised by the lenders and the principal.

“The compensation of former farm owners was a prerequisite for the arrears clearance and debt strategy but the country has not done anything concrete to pay farmers instead there are only long-term plans to compensate with no strong intent to compensate.”

He added: “The country has failed to live up to its promise to the lenders.”

Clemence Chiduwa, Finance and Economic Development deputy minister, said the government remained committed to clearing external debt arrears, which have prevented the country from accessing fresh capital from global financial institutions.

“…We remain steadfast on our arrears clearance and debt strategy as this will yield desired results.

“The coming in of the delegation for the third time since December shows that development partners are confident with the country’s commitment to repay debt and clear arrears,” Chiduwa said.

 

 

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