HARARE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Zimbabwe's external debt will balloon to US$13.4 billion by 2013.Civic groups have called for a full public audit of the country’s current US$5.7 billion external debt amid fears it was stolen by President Robert Mugabe’s previous exclusive administration.
Zimbabwe currently owes over US$5.7 billion to external creditors. This represents over 192 per cent of GDP in 2009. US$3.8 billion of this amount is arrears or interest accrued on the debt.
Zimbabwe Europe Network (ZEN), Zimbabwean Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), European Debt and Development (EURODAD) and African Debt and Development (AFRODAD), have called for a full public audit of the countrys US$5.7 billion debt. They want to assess the legitimacy of the debt amid concerns this money could have been plundered from the treasury.
Calls for a public audit of the external debt comes as Zimbabwe’s parliament last week unanimously approved a compromise bill to reform the central bank, including a clause giving immunity to the central bank governor and employees “for anything done in good faith and without negligence”.
Zimbabwe is currently locked in a conundrum of whether to declare itself a Heavily Indebted Poor Country to get the staggering debt written off by the Paris Club of government lenders that Zimbabwe owes.
Finance minister Tendai Biti has said Zimbabwe should aim to have its debt to international financial institutions cancelled by seeking access to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. This statement sparked a lot of controversy.
ZIMCODDs Rutendo Hadebe has called for a comprehensive audit of the debt rather than the countrys participation in the HIPC Initiative.
“There has been much irresponsible lending,” she said.
AFRODAD’s Ingrid Naess-Holm said: “Zimbabwe should find other solutions before adopting HIPC.”
The HIPC Initiative is a long, fraught process which is tied to a whole range of sometimes controversial macroeconomic policy conditions.
The Zimbabwean has obtained minutes of a recent international donor conference in Berlin in October 2009, at which several donors called for Zimbabwe to be classified as a HIPC.
President Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party does not want Zimbabwe classified as a heavily indebted poor country saying the country was rich were it not for so-called targeted sanctions.
The Zimbabwean understands ZEN, ZIMCODD and EURODAD are working on a strategy which aims to secure the best possible outcome for Zimbabwe with respect to its external debt burden.
Post published in: Economy