ZIMBABWE has set a good record through the completion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) supervised economic reform plan which is a preparatory work for better programmes.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA
Zimbabwe has been under the IMF Staff Monitored Programme since 2014. A final review of the SMP recently showed that the country had met the benchmarks set.
Speaking at the IMF breakfast meeting yesterday the Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the country has been working on reforms to improve itself. He said the relationship between government and the IMF had not been good because of the arrears and the debt issue.
“We now have a good record. We are not there yet, we are only there to discuss a new financial programme,” he said. Chinamasa said when a customer to a bank fails to service the debt, the bank would want to know if one has the capacity to repay for the new loan.
He said everyone needed to reform, but it is not a one-day wonder, but a process.
“We have to enter into skirmishes and they are at policy level and you will have to fight battles and in implementation changing people’s habits is not easy,” he said.
Chinamasa said the government is now working on a draft country financing programme although it has not yet been taken to Cabinet.
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“We are working on a Draft Country Financing Programme and it has not yet been taken to Cabinet. It will turn the economic fortunes of our country,” he said.
The programme will focus on agriculture and mining as the main sectors of the economy.
The head of IMF delegation Domenico Fanizza said the country cannot wait any longer as it had the best human capital than the rest of the world and it is difficult to understand how in the past 15 years it has not been performing well.
Fanizza said the country has completed preparatory work and now the ball is now in Zimbabwe’s court.
“Zimbabwe has capacity to get to the finishing line,” he said.
The IMF team came to Zimbabwe for two weeks for Article IV and the review of the SMP.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF breakfast meeting yesterday, Central Bank governor John Mangudya, said the International Finance Corporation team is in the country to assess how they can assist the country.
