Govt urged to seek foreign funding for ZimAsset

via Govt urged to seek foreign funding for ZimAsset – NewsDay Zimbabwe May 5, 2015

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) representative to Zimbabwe Christian Beddies has urged government to seek funds to bankroll its economic blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset), from foreign markets as the local market had no capacity to raise the required amounts.

BY VICTORIA MTOMBA

Beddies made the remarks yesterday when he appeared before the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Portfolio Committee.

“Zimbabwe needs a strategy for the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation and it’s a bold plan with a lot of reforms that requires finance. Finance cannot be raised domestically. There has to be finance from outside,” Beddies said.

He said the country needs to find a solution on the arrears. Beddies said there was also need to look at the business climate going forward.

He said if 80% of the National Budget was spent on expenditures then it would be difficult to finance other critical areas.

Beddies said the country failed to qualify for the debt relief because it falls short by 10 percentage points, adding that 44% of the country’s debt was to the Paris Club.

The country’s total debt to the club is $3 billion of which $2,7 billion are arrears.

This is the first time that Zimbabwe would have accessed debt relief from the club.

The country’s total debt totals $10 billion.

He, however, said Zimbabwe’s IMF-supervised Staff Monitored Programme had recorded significant progress.

Relations between the IMF and Harare are improving after they soured a decade ago when Zimbabwe failed to settle a $124 million debt.