The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still not prepared to resume lending to Zimbabwe, the head of the body said Wednesday, citing concerns about the country’s political situation.
– We are not yet at the point where resuming lending is possible, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said after a two-day visit to South Africa.
Asked about a law that went into effect this month in Zimbabwe requiring Zimbabwean businesses to be controlled by blacks, Strauss-Kahn seized on it as an example of politics presenting hurdles to recovery.
– Such moves which may not lead obviously or rapidly to a kind of reconciliation … will not, definitely, solve the problem of the Zimbabwe economy, Strauss-Kahn said.
– We are providing rather big technical assistance to Zimbabwe, trying to help define the budget and the way monetary policy should be managed but we still have concerns both about governance of the central bank and the new budget, Strauss- Kahn stressed.
To resume lending, Zimbabwe will have to ‘build a track record.’
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
