“Some donors would be willing to cancel Zimbabwes (staggering) 5,4 billion US dollar (29 milliarder DKR) foreign debt, if the strained unity government (samlingsregering) presents a united proposal to settle it”, the finance minister said Thursday.
– I am in constant touch with the donors and I have no doubt that they will put up money, Tendai Biti said in Harare after meeting officials from the African Development Bank (AfDB). – They will help us, once there is a green light from government’ on how Zimbabwe wants to settle its debt, Biti noted.
Biti said there was no going back on the economic reforms but that the coalition government was divided on his proposal to have Zimbabwe declared a heavily indebted country to qualify for debt forgiveness, thereby allowing it to qualify for new aid.
Arrears (restancer) to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and AfDB total 1,3 billion dollar, which must be cleared before Harare can get any help.
Biti is working with the AfDB to craft a debt cancellation plan but the finance minister said this would need to be backed by a good political and economic track record.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
