HARARE The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has clarified that its team is in Zimbabwe to assist the southern African country prepare the 2011 national budget and not for Article IV consultations to assess progress in implementation of economic policies.The six-member IMF mission, which has been in Zimbabwe for the past two weeks, has been helping Harares coalition government to formulate next years budget given that the regime is cash-strapped.
Analysts had predicted that the team would issue a damning assessment of Zimbabwes economic performance in light of various policy slippages by the fragile Harare coalition.
But Caroline Atkinson, head of the IMFs External Relations Department, said last week that the mission was on a staff visit to look at the budget.
Its not a full-fledged Article IV, and I expect that they will finish their work fairly soon, she said.
Analysts fear that ongoing election talk will derail government programme, with President Robert Mugabe expected to increasingly return to the populist policies of his former Zanu (PF)-led government in order to endear himself to the electorate ahead of polls tentatively set for mid-2011.
The IMF team last visited Zimbabwe in July for Article IV
Consultations which included discussion of efforts to rebuild the
southern African economy as well as Harares overdue financial
obligations to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.
Zimbabwe owed the IMF about US$135 million in outstanding loan
repayments as of the end of last month. VUSIMUZI BHEBHE
Post published in: Africa News