BUSINESS REPORTER
Zimbabwe has lost about 80 lines of credit and correspondent banking relationships with multiple international lenders over the past few years due to illegal sanctions, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube has said.
Zimbabwe had been isolated to the extent that four years ago, the southern African country had about two banks the whole world that could avail finance to Zimbabwe, according to official data obtained from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The international lenders saw Zimbabwe as a high risk country, posing a significant risk to efforts to access credit lines from international trade.
“The impact of sanctions is that of access of credit abroad. Our banks have not been able to access credit easily from abroad. That is a key issue (as this) this credit is really for investment in the private sector. So, in a way it also stifles investment. So, we don’t get as much credit as we expect,” Ncube said.
He added: “ Zimbabwe has lost about 80 lines of credit and banking relationships across the world (due to sanctions).”