By Paul Nyathi|The Nelson Chamisa led opposition MDC Alliance coalition has expressed displeasure at the British Government’s $100 million benevolence extended to the Zimbabwe government.

The British government this week took the financial world by surprise when it penned a $100 million loan deal with the Zimbabwean government which will see the British release working capital and infrastructure loans to Zimbabwean companies through Standard Bank for the first time in twenty years.

The move has not been received favourable by the MDC Alliance finance and economic official Tendai Biti who feels that it is a mistimed endorsement of the ruling ZANU PF government shortly before the crunch 2018 elections.

Media reports indicate that Biti expressed displeasure with what he sees as the UK’s sudden pro President Emmerson Mnangagwa policies, especially ahead of crunch elections expected in July.

“This attempt to put lipstick on a crocodile is most unfortunate,” The Financial Times of Britain quotes Biti, referring to President Mnangagwa’s crocodile nickname.

“The elections are only a few months away. Let’s see the quality of this election first.” said Biti urging foreign governments to wait bankrolling Zimbabwe until credible elections take place.

President Mnangagwa has been attracting a lot of sympathy from the international community with his promises to hold a credible election this year.

Opposition MDC Alliance coalition officials point out that he was for years a powerful figure in former President Robert Mugabe’s autocratic regime and is leading ZANU PF, the party that has ruled since independence in 1980, into the poll.

Zimbabwe has been starved of foreign loans since it defaulted on its debt to the International Monetary Fund in 2001 following a dispute with the international community over chaotic land redistribution exercise executed by Mugabe and ZANU PF which Mnangagwa is now leading.