Botswana Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Gladys Kokorwe, told The Zimbabwean that Botswana availed the credit facility to the cash-strapped Zimbabwean government last year but the government was yet to produce a counter guarantee in order to access the funds.
This is despite Zimbabwe struggling to resuscitate industry and finance critical government operations, including civil servants salaries, constitutional referendum and the forthcoming elections.
“After signing the Memorandum of Agreement in September last year, we agreed that the Zimbabwean government had to put in place a counter guarantee, which has not happened. I don’t know why this has taken long, the Ministry of Finance knows,” said Kokorwe. “Botswana extended this credit facility to help Zimbabwe revive industry.”
The line of credit comes at a time when Zimbabwe has no access to international lenders like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti last year traversed the world begging for money to revive an economy that had suffered a decade long recession due to poor policies of President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Economic Analyst, Eric Bloch said the government seriously needed credit lines to improve the economy but it was difficult for a bankrupt government to get a counter guarantee.
“It is difficult for a government that is bankrupt to get a counter guarantee. At the moment, the Zimbabwean government does not have money and for them to enter into such an agreement without a payback plan is suicidal. We don’t want to destroy bilateral relations with our neighbouring countries,” said Bloch.
Another political analyst, John Robertson, said the government should settle the debts they incurred in previous years before they seek credit lines.
“We don’t have policies of success and that is why we are failing to resuscitate the economy. The country is spending more on imports than exports, which makes our situation very difficult. Who would want to carry our burden by acting as a guarantee to these contracts?” questioned Robertson.
However, when contacted for comment Finance Minister Tendai Biti said, “We already have a counter guarantee and we will finalise the deal soon”.
Post published in: Africa News
Mr BITI how soon is soon. This is an urgent matter, we need money and you recently announced that government has no money. Make use of the credit lines and save the nation. We will give them back when MDC-T takes over