Zim will stick to reform plan

BERNARD MPOFU

Zimbabwe will stick to reforms spelt out in its shortterm economic programme in its quest to re-engage with the international community despite somewhat frosty relations between Harare and key bilateral creditors over local political developments, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has said.

Last week, Zimbabwe’s debt clearance plan was thrown off the rails after Britain, which had been supporting the programme, said it was unhappy with reports of human rights abuses following last month’s violent nationwide protests.

Ncube told Business Times this week that the government would pursue economic and political reforms espoused in the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), a two-year economic blueprint adopted by the government after last year’s general elections.

“The TSP outlines our reform agenda and we will pursue those reforms as we engage with our bilateral and multilateral creditors.

As you may be aware, the TSP was approved by the international community, so our engagement drive is still on course,” Ncube said.

Under the TSP Reform Agenda (2018-20), Zimbabwe has committed itself to the “reestablishment of relations with the international financial community, critical to complementing domestic efforts to mobilise resources and build up development capacity”.

Official figures show that four people died while many more were injured from gunshot wounds when security forces moved in to quell last month’s violent protests triggered by a 150% rise in the fuel price.

The UK Parliament last week summoned its minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, over the political developments in Zimbabwe.

The situation in the country has also prompted President Emmerson Mnangagwa to embark on a diplomatic offensive with regional peers, as well as opening dialogue with the country’s opposition parties.

During the just-ended African Union summit, Mnangagwa held a meeting with the EU commissioner for international co-operation and development, Neven Mimica, where political developments in the country were at the top of the agenda.

“In the margins of the AU summit, I met with the President of Zimbabwe ED Mnangagwa, a few months after my visit to Harare.

We took stock of what has been achieved and agreed that more needs to be done. The EU is ready to step up its support if conditions are met,” Mimica tweeted.

Relations between Harare and London turned frosty at the turn of the millennium after Zimbabwe embarked on its land reform programme that resulted in thousands of white farmers from Britain, Netherlands, and Australia being dispossessed of their.farms by the government.

The relations thawed in 2017 following the resignation of former president Robert Mugabe.

The country is saddled with a debt stock of $16,9bn, with external debt accounting for approximately $7,4bn.

Out of this, approximately $5,6bn is in arrears, even though the country settled its IMF arrears of $107,9m in November 2016.

Zimbabwe still owes the World Bank $1,3bn, AfDB $680m, and the European Investment Bank $308m.

In the international financial architecture, the IMF, the World Bank Group and the AfDB enjoy a preferred creditors’ status under a Pari Passu rule, which means their arrears have to be simultaneously cleared first before any other creditor could be considered for payment.

This makes it almost impossible for Zimbabwe to clear its international arrears without a payment plan approved and supported by countries such as the UK, USA and other Western nations.

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