UK commits £3 million for Zimbabwe recovery

HARARE: The UK has committed an additional £3 million (R50.2m) towards Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.

The latest support underlines the revival of relations between the European country and its former colony after years of hostilities with the regime of now-deposed leader, Robert Mugabe. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has allocated the financial package to the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund (Zimref).

The funds are in addition to an earlier contribution of £6m by DFID.

Annabel Gerry, head of DFID Zimbabwe, said the support would enable the country to advance its economic reform to ensure recovery.

The additional funding would provide increased support to the government’s efforts to revise investment laws, eradicate poverty, expand agriculture and revive state-owned enterprises and the education sector.

Zimref is a World Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund.

“The funding will be useful for tracking progress toward the elimination of extreme poverty and for achievement of other social development goals,” said Mukami Kariuki, World Bank manager in Zimbabwe. – CAJ News/African News Agency (ANA)