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NewsDay

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Govt should first account for IMF funds: Maguwu

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Local natural resources lobby group, the Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG), has said the government should give a full account of how it utilised previous loans from international financial institutions before the country accesses a fresh bailout package.

Local natural resources lobby group, the Centre for Natural Resources Governance (CNRG), has said the government should give a full account of how it utilised previous loans from international financial institutions before the country accesses a fresh bailout package.

By Everson Mushava

CNRG boss Farai Maguwu yesterday said it would be “irresponsible” for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to pour money into a country where government fails to account for every cent borrowed on behalf of its citizens.

“The IMF must be reminded that Zimbabweans, both the living and the unborn, shall be harangued to repay these loans in future,” Maguwu said.

“Why should the future of Zimbabweans be chained to a debt that they have no say on and, worse still, loans that are going to be used to finance their suffering?”

Currently, Zimbabwe owes the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank about $1,8 billion, while its total national debt stands at above $9 billion against an annual budget of a paltry $4 billion. Government has, however, failed to account to its citizens how it used previous loans.

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, since his appointment in 2013, has been making frantic efforts to lure the Bretton Woods institutions for a cash bailout as the economy continues to sneeze.

Zimbabwe is this year expecting its first loan from the IMF since 1999.

“These loans, instead of alleviating suffering, are actually aggravating the Zimbabwe situation. Zimbabwe is a country that is donating billions to the world through State-assisted plunder of natural resources,” Maguwu said.

In February, President Robert Mugabe disclosed that Zimbabwe had realised a paltry $2 billion from a possible $15 billion from Marange diamond sales.

He said more than $15 billion could have been stolen.

CNRG had always raised a red flag about the country’s dealings with diamonds, but was accused of trying to effect regime change.

Maguwu said the passage of the Reserve Bank Debt Assumption Bill by government to force taxpayers to take over the central bank’s $1,35 billion debt owed to several creditors would also work against the country’s bid for more funding.

Government has refused to disclose the names of the people, most of them Zanu PF bigwigs and military personnel, who benefited under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s farm mechanisation programme.

“The refusal by government to name the RBZ debtors and yet forces the poor to pay for the debt, the concealment of the details of President Mugabe’s so-called ‘mega deals’ and the fact that even Parliament has not been privileged with such information, shows that Zimbabwe is run like a 16th century monarchy where the king owned everything, including the people.”