ZC to further reduce debts by 2020
AS a way of ensuring that cricket prospers in the country, Zimbabwe Cricket are expected to further significantly reduce their debts in 2020 by paying off the bulk of their creditors before completely clearing the liabilities in 2023.
With assistance from the International Cricket Council, ZC have been working on measures to bring down their arrears, which have continued to choke the cricket mother body over the years, leading to the game suffering.
The biggest achievement for the Tavengwa Mukuhlani-led ZC was getting their bank loans housed under the Zimbabwe Asset Management Company. Under the Zamco arrangement, the interest rate for the ZC loans is fixed at 6,5 percent with the cricket mother body to repay the principal amount in 2023 in the form of one bullet payment.
ZC loans that went under Zamco were for NMB Bank, CBZ, Metbank and Ecobank totalling $14 million. ZC managed to get a 30% discount so they have to pay $10 069 000 at the end of 2023. The $2 889 000 loan to ICC will also be paid off at the end of 2023.
According to documents presented by Mukuhlani at the recently held ICC board meeting in Singapore, ZC’s other liabilities are comprised of statutory obligations of $2,1 million and trade creditors of $1,8 million. ZC have negotiated payment plans with the objective to fully clear this debt by 2020.
“By 2020 we look to have paid off the creditors then we will be left with bank loans which will be paid off by the ICC in 2023 then ZC will be clean of bank loans and creditors. At least the game will be in a healthy state, much healthier state than it was before,’’ Mukuhlani said.
To ensure that ZC do not get into further debt, Mukuhlani indicated that Zimbabwe will now only host profitably tours, with India’s visit to the country early next year expected to bring in the much needed cash flows to the sport.
“We are not going to host for the sake of hosting, it’s now targeted, if we are going to lose money out of it then we don’t do it,” he said.
He is looking forward to the India tour which is the most profitable of them all with all other visits to the country being loss making ventures. Initially, Zimbabwe were meant to go to the Asian country but ZC managed to convince their Board of Control for Cricket in India to send their team instead.
“We look forward to India to come and drop in a few millions then we make money.”
What seems to have convinced the ICC board to assist Zimbabwe was the fact that even without assistance, ZC managed to reduce their debts from $27 411 000 in December 2015 to $19 131 000 as of August this year.
Other measures that ZC have undertaken to reduce debts was the decrease in the staff complement from 301 to 81, bringing down central contracts from 39 (24 men and 15 women) to 26 (18 men and eight women) as well as the restructuring of the domestic system which will see only four teams compete in the three formats this season.
Zimbabwe will next year host India in March and West Indies in October with a tour to Ireland scheduled for July.
@Mdawini_29