ZIMBABWE has met all conditions precedent to the repayment of debt arrears to the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has said.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
In a statement last night, Chinamasa said the terms and conditions of the facilities the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had put in place to repay the debt arrears to the two institutions had been “scrutinised and adjudged by the affected international financial institutions and found to be reflective of current market conditions, with financing terms similar to market transactions recently concluded by several sub-Saharan African countries during 2016 and 2017”.
Chinamasa said the breakthrough meant “Zimbabwe can now proceed to repay its debt arrears”.
According to a plan presented in Lima, Peru, in 2015, Zimbabwe was supposed to clear combined $1,8 billion debt arrears simultaneously to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and AfDB by April last year. The country, however, failed to meet the set deadline, clearing the IMF debt last year using special drawing rights.
