HARARE - Finance minister Tendai Biti has enlisted the support of World Bank managing director for Africa, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, to help Zimbabwe work out a debt management plan with the Bretton Woods institution. (Pictured: Former Nigerian Finance Minister and current World Bank managing director for Africa, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala)
The former Nigerian finance minister made an announcement during the World Bank 2009 Annual Meetings in Turkey that the Washington-based institution had “already set up a mechanism to clear Zimbabwe’s arrears with the Bank”. The mechanism was awaiting approval of the World Bank executive board, according to Biti. Zimbabwe owes the World Bank more than US$600 million in outstanding loan repayments. The country also has arrears to the African Development Bank around US$460 million plus a further US$133 million owed to the International Monetary Fund, bringing the total unpaid loans to more than US$1.2 billion.
Lobby for voting rights
“There was also commitment to lobby for the restoration of Zimbabwe’s voting and related rights in the World Bank Fund,” Biti revealed this week. The World Bank suspended Zimbabwe’s voting rights in 2003 for defaulting on its loan repayments. The commitment by Iweala is a major breakthrough for Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government which is desperately trying to reengage a cautious donor community. Multilateral financial institutions and rich Western nations have shunned Zimbabwe since Harare made a passionate appeal for economic assistance in February to bankroll the newly formed coalition government.
Zimbabwe said it required more than US$10 billion to revive its comatose economy and restored collapsed education and health sectors. Most donors have, however, demanded tangible evidence of political reforms before agreeing to fund the country’s recovery programme. Biti said he also met the president of the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) Jean-Louis Ekra who pledged to support the Zimbabwean government.
Post published in: News