- Chinamasa shoots himself in the foot
- Ghost workers still squandering government money
- IMF Sanctions on Zimbabwe
The International Monitory Fund on Monday said Zimbabwe is paying it a monthly instalment of a paltry $150 000 to clear its ballooning debt.
Zimbabwe owes the IMF $142 million which has been accumulating since the year 2000.
As a result of its failure to repay the cumulative debt, the country had been blacklisted and barred from further borrowings.
Addressing journalists at the end of their two week long funding review meeting in Harare, Monday, IMF chief of Mission Domenico Fanizza, said Zimbabwe should show its commitment to repay the debt if it wanted to re-engage with the international money lending institution.
“It’s a token payment the country is paying for clearing arrears. It is about $150 000 per month and it changes with the exchange rates,” he said.
IMF said it was difficult for Zimbabwe to get a debt relief until it clears its arrears.
“Yes there are other initiatives to solve debt issues, but the important things that we need to understand is that the situation of Zimbabwe is particular, because the country does not only have a high debt but the problem is that it is in arrears. So all these mechanisms that are used out there cannot be used unless these arrears are cleared,” Fanizza insisted.
One of the sanctions the IMF imposed on Zimbabwe for it to access fresh lines of credit was to reduce its wage bill through revising its civil service workforce and eliminate ghost workers. The first phase of the staff audit and monitoring was instituted five years ago during the tenure of the inclusive government. The second staff review was done last year in October and the final is under-way and expected to end in December this year amid reports that the ghost workers are still squandering government cash.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa however argued that the staff monitoring programme was not done for the benefit of the IMF.
“We set out our targets, not for the benefit of the IMF but for the benefit of our own country. It is important that as a country we turn our country’s micro economic stability as well as to strive to re-enter the global economy as a player, “Chinamasa contradicted himself.
All in all Zimbabwe owes $7 billion to multilateral creditors.
2 Replies to “Zimbabwe Paying IMF ‘Token’ Peanuts as Ghost Workers Continue Gobbling Govt Cash”
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For Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs, the chickens have finally come home to roost; after decades of mismanagement, corruption and reckless spending the country is broke and up to its eyes in debt!
The years of misrule have destroyed the country’s once upon a time vibrant economy. For IMF to ask the Zimbabwe government to pay its debt now is like asking a cock to lay eggs; he can sit in the nest a whole week, he is not going to lay no egg!
The only way Zimbabwe is going to get out of this economic mess is for the Zanu PF government to step down so that a new one with the political will to address the underlying problems of mismanagement and corruption can take over. Mugabe does not have much of a choice really; he can step down now or hang on to power whilst the situation continue to get worse until he is forced out of power.
For Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs, the chickens have finally come home to roost; after decades of mismanagement, corruption and reckless spending the country is broke and up to its eyes in debt!
The years of misrule have destroyed the country’s once upon a time vibrant economy. For IMF to ask the Zimbabwe government to pay its debt now is like asking a cock to lay eggs; he can sit in the nest a whole week, he is not going to lay no egg!
The only way Zimbabwe is going to get out of this economic mess is for the Zanu PF government to step down so that a new one with the political will to address the underlying problems of mismanagement and corruption can take over. Mugabe does not have much of a choice really; he can step down now or hang on to power whilst the situation continue to get worse until he is forced out of power.