IMF Urge Zimbabwe To Improve Integrity
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The International Monetary
Fund or IMF says that Zimbabwe needs to intensify reform and meaningfully
improve transparency. These will boost the country’s integrity as the
government faces growing criticism about its dedication to delivering
economic and political change.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa
and senior officials say they are doing their best to lay the foundations for
future growth and blame Western sanctions for hampering recovery and
deterring investment.
But the opponents say of the
government are saying he is reverting to the authoritarian tendencies seen
under former leader Robert Mugabe, who died early this month. They also
criticise Mnangagwa for presiding over soaring prices and shortages of
foreign currency and fuel price hike that have sparked anger among a restive
population.
The IMF added: “The key
challenge is to contain fiscal spending consistent with non-inflationary
financing and tighten monetary policy to stabilise the exchange rate and
start rebuilding confidence in the national currency.”
The FT report said payouts to
Sakunda, a fuel company owned by an ally of Mnangagwa, were equivalent to the
central bank printing money.
A source with knowledge of
the Sakunda transactions told Reuters the IMF had raised a red flag over the
central bank’s preferential treatment of $366 million of Treasury bills
issued to Sakunda in January.
Zimbabwe, which adopted the
U.S. dollar as legal tender in 2009, launched a transitional currency in
February and converted all its domestic foreign-currency debt to local
currency at a ratio of 1:1. But Sakunda’s bills remained denominated in U.S.
dollars, the source added.
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