Taarifa business Desk has learned that Zimbabwe has secured a 10-month staff-monitored program with the International Monetary Fund,a move so crucial towards clearing billions of dollars in debt arrears.
“Credible track record that supports the authorities’ re-engagement efforts and complements their broader strategy toward arrears clearance and debt restructuring, including eventual access to external concessional financing,” the IMF’s Wojciech Maliszewski, who led its staff team’s mission to Zimbabwe, said in a statement on Friday.
“Continued progress on reforms, together with strengthened policy credibility and improved transparency, would help lay the groundwork for more substantive discussions with international partners on arrears-clearance and debt restructuring modalities in the near term,”He added.
A US lawmaker had introduced a bill to block Zimbabwe from IMF and World Bank funding until it repays $3.5 billion owed to White farmers.
For Zimbabwe to gain access to IMF and World Bank funding, the country has to first work on clearing these debts, implementing structural reforms, and improving economic governance.
Zimbabwe has been in default to major international financial institutions since 2000,, which prevents new financing. As of September 2022, external debt was approximately U$14 billion.
Zimbabwe’s arrears, which constitute over 77% of its total external debt.
