High-level delegation to lead Zim debt clearance appointed
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has appointed African Development Bank president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, and former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano as the country’s high-level facilitators of the Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution Process scheduled for this coming week.
The two leaders are expected to arrive in the country for the second Structured Dialogue Platform Meeting from today up to Friday. The high-level meeting is part of steps by the country towards clearing over $14 billion of arrears on its foreign debt. Due to the arrears, the country has not received loans from lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for more than two decades.
In a statement on Friday, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said in December last year, the Government established a structured dialogue platform with all creditors and development partners, in order to institutionalise structured dialogue on economic and governance reforms to underpin the Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution process.
This, he said, was in line with the priorities of the National Development Strategy (NDS-1).
“The inaugural structured dialogue platform meeting was successfully held on 1 December 2022, and the meeting agreed on the following three pillars for implementation: Economic reforms, governance reforms, and land tenure and compensation of former farm owners, including the resolution of Bilateral investment Protection and Promotion Agreements (BIPPAS). The meeting also agreed to operationalise the Economic Growth and Stability; and Governance Sector Working Groups (SWGs), where specific reforms and timelines will be discussed and agreed upon.”
The minister said specific reforms will be included in the Economic and Governance Reform Matrices, adding that the Economic and Governance Sector Working Groups will feed into the structured dialogue platform meetings and the high-level Debt Resolution Forum.
“The Economic Growth and Stability Sector Working Group met on 12 January 2023, while the Governance Sector Working Group met on the 2nd of February 2023. The Economic Growth and Stability Sector Working Group is co-chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank, while the Governance Sector Working Group is co-chaired by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the European Union,” said Prof Ncube.
The Economic and Governance Reform Matrices will be presented and discussed during the second structured dialogue platform group co-chaired by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the European Union.
“The two SWGs meetings resulted in the preparation of draft matrices of Economic and Governance reforms. These reforms, sector performance indicators, and targets are based on the National Development Strategy (NDS) 1 Results Framework,” reads the statement.
Since the coming into power of the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa in November 2017, the country has embarked on an international engagement and re-engagement drive to improve relations with the global village. The Government has also been implementing a cocktail of economic and governance reforms as well as devising and implementing an Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution Strategy.
In the 2023 National Budget Statement, Prof Ncube indicated that the country’s external debt stands at US$14 billion. Through the Finance Act of 2021, the Government assumed outstanding external obligations that could not be remitted due to a shortage of foreign currency (blocked funds) amounting to US$3,5 billion.