Phillimon Mhlanga
GWERU – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has accelerated efforts to clear debt arrears owed to the World Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) through a process, which should be complete by September this year.
Speaking at the Buy Zimbabwe Summit in Gweru on Thursday, Simon Nyarota, the director of Economic Research at the central bank said resolving the country’s external debt arrears, which have proscribed it from accessing offshore support to extricate the economy from crisis, will be a critical step in the country’s economic recovery. Zimbabwe’s debt arrears have affected the country’s credit rating, making it a pariah in international capital markets.
Nyarota added that once government clears the debt arrears to the two multilateral financial institutions, bilateral debts with the Paris and non-Paris Club members would be next on the agenda.
“The strategy (to pay debt arrears to WB and AfDB) is on the table and around September this year we should be done with the payments,” Nyarota said.
“There have been meetings going on with the two multilateral financial institutions (WB and AfDB) in the last few months. Once we clear these arrears, we will start engaging other bilateral institutions like the European Investment Bank, the Paris Club and non-Paris Club members,” he added.
Three years ago, government came up with a debt and arrears strategy to repay the US$1,8 billion owed to the WB, AfDB and the International Monetary Fund(IMF). The strategy was signed with the three multilateral financial institutions in Lima, Peru.
Zimbabwe has since settled its debt obligation amounting to $110 million owed to the IMF. The country’s external dent presently stands at about $10 billion, with the WB accounting for more than 60 percent.
Zimbabwe’s arrears with the WB is about $1,1 billion, while US$601 million is owed to the AfDB.
