Zimbabwe asks for UN bailout

via Zimbabwe asks for UN bailout  Mail & Guardian 06 DEC 2013 by Takudzwa Munyaka

The government wants the United Nations to cut aid and give it cash to boost the economy instead.

Harare has asked the United Nations to bail it out by scaling down its humanitarian programmes and channelling funds to development work that will support Zanu-PF’s economic revival blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).

Zim Asset aims to grow the economy by 3.4% this year and by 6.1% in 2014, with the ultimate target of achieving a 9.9% growth rate by 2018 — but the government has been struggling to secure funding for these plans.

Among other things, Zim Asset seeks to rebuild infrastructure, re­open closed factories, pay off the country’s external debt and provide cheap housing and better access to identity documents. It also seeks to run all government buildings on solar energy by 2015.

Now Harare has found a way to lean on the UN and make it partly fund the ambitious five-year programme.