Zim pays IMF $120m
2005-08-31 21:56
Special Report
A new team of SA mediators have held their first talks with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in a fresh bid to ease tensions within the strained unity government, a report says.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Harare - Zimbabwe has paid back $120m of its $300m (€245m) debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had threatened to expel Harare for arrears, state television said on Wednesday.
"Zimbabwe has managed to pay $120m to the IMF out of its own resources as part of efforts aimed at servicing its international debt," said a statement.
Commitment to turn around
"This development is a source of immense national pride as it demonstrates the country's unwavering commitment to turn around its economic fortunes."
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa told AFP that it proved "that no one can write off Zimbabwe as yet," and that we "can still do things on our own."
An IMF team is currently in Zimbabwe for key talks which were extended by two days and ended on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa earlier this month agreed to step in with a loan to ensure that Harare retains its IMF membership.
Tentative agreement
Talks held in Pretoria three weeks ago reportedly yielded a tentative agreement on a loan of between $200m to $500m including about $100m to be paid to the IMF.
The news bulletin however quoted the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as saying that said the amount paid back however "does not nullify or close present negotations with South Africa" on a bail-out loan.
Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by 30% in the past four years following the seizures in 2000 of about 4 500 white-owned commercial farms which sent agricultural production plummetting.
Drought and sanctions
President Robert Mugabe's government has blamed drought and sanctions by the European Union and the United States for the country's economic decline, characterised by triple-digit inflation and high unemployment.
Murerwa recently presented a supplementary budget to pay wages, import food and build new housing, after admitting that targets for economic growth and inflation would be missed.
Inflation, already hovering at 164.3% in June, shot up to 254.8% in July, dealing a blow to the government's goal of bringing inflation down to 80% by year end.
The government is also spending on housing reconstruction in the wake of an internationally-condemned urban cleanup campaign in which shacks, market stalls, shops and homes were demolished.
No meltdown
Meanwhile, South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Wednesday warned that an economic meltdown or collapse of Zimbabwe would not be in the interest of the continent or of humanity.
"We do not want a meltdown in Zimbabwe so that there is a total collapse... because who has to gain from a total collapse in Zimbabwe?" she told the South African parliament in Cape Town.
"None of us, not South Africa, not Zimbabwe, not Africa, not humanity," wanted that, she said.
- SAPA