THE Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) has so far disbursed over a quarter of its $206 million loan facility to Zimbabwe, official figures have shown.
Report by Bernard Mpofu, Chief Business Reporter
According to DBSA financial results for the year ending March 31 2012, $54 million was disbursed to the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) to rehabilitate the country’s dilapidated road network.
The project, according to the regional financier, was aimed at rehabilitating a major road artery spanning 801km from Plumtree through Harare to Mutare and represents the bank’s biggest commitment to Zimbabwe so far.
“The DBSA continued to demonstrate its commitment to the reconstruction of Zimbabwe by disbursing $54 million on the $206 million loan facility to Zinara,” the bank said in a statement.
“The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank) is viewed as one of the DBSA’s strategic partners in the region. The line of credit agreement between the two parties has strengthened the partnership, as it allows PTA Bank to increase its product diversification and lengthens the tenor of its loans to clients.
“An amount of R542 million was disbursed as part of the line of credit agreement during the year.”
The bank’s total project approvals for the year were R27,5 billion ($3,1 billion) of which 86,3% were in favour of projects in South Africa.
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Saddled with a huge debt overhang of $10,7 billion and a perceived high country risk, Zimbabwe has struggled to source lines of credit required to resuscitate the country’s run-down infrastructure such as energy, water, sanitation and transport.
According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Zimbabwe requires at least $15 billion to rehabilitate its run-down infrastructure. The AfDB is a leading development finance institution in Africa, South of the Sahara, playing the roles of financier, advisor, partner, implementer and integrator.
The bank maximises its contribution to sustainable development in the region by mobilising financial, knowledge and human resources to support the government and other development role-players in improving the quality of life of people in the region through funding infrastructure projects, accelerating the sustainable reduction of poverty and inequity and promoting broad-based economic growth and regional economic integration.
