By Own Correspondent| Zimbabwean firms could benefit from lines of credit being offered by regional and international lenders to recapitalise and boost operations, a senior African Development Bank official has revealed.

AfDB senior policy analyst Eric Marega said while Zimbabwe was in arrears with the institution, lines of credit worth $50 million could be availed to the private sector.

Speaking at the CZI conference last week, Marega also said the lines of credit could double depending on the arrears clearance strategy that Zimbabwe will adopt.

Said Marega:

“At the moment, the headroom for Zimbabwe is $50 million for the bank, but we are looking forward to see whether we can increase from $50 million to $100 million . . . and post arrears, I am sure we should be able to lend more to the private sector in Zimbabwe to catalyse growth and development.”

Other presenters from the African Development Bank, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and Export-Import Bank of India concurred adding that their institutions had capital headroom for local companies seeking to revive and expand operations.

Thokoane Tsolo from IDC South Africa said while the institution’s exposure to Zimbabwe was R3 billion ($212,2 million), there was space to lend a further R2 billion ($141,5 million).

Said Tsolo:

“We can grow that to R5 billion ($353,7 million).”-StateMedia