OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday
ZIMBABWE has stopped making payments on its loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in another sign of the nation’s rapidly deteriorating economic crisis, the privately owned Financial Gazette reported on Thursday.
Citing unnamed foreign and local financial officials, the business weekly said the government had stopped making payments on any of its foreign loans, including those from the IMF.
Zimbabwe’s total foreign debt is estimated at $4.5bn, the report said.
IMF officials in Harare declined to comment on the report, referring questions to its headquarters in Washington.
Zimbabwe has suffered a worsening shortage of foreign currency during the past two years, with the government frequently unable to maintain an adequate supply of electricity and fuel.
Fuel shortages in Zimbabwe have worsened during the past week, with snaking queues again snarling traffic on the streets of Harare, while garbage has piled on the streets because collection trucks have run out of diesel.
The IMF suspended aid to Zimbabwe in October 1999 after government efforts to liberalize the economy went off track, prompting most other lenders to pull out and leaving the country with little credit and practically no foreign currency.
Zimbabwe’s already battered economy has taken another blow as militant, pro-government war veterans have led raids on scores of businesses during the past two months, claiming to being acting on behalf of disgruntled employees.
Their bid at labour relations has led to beatings and abductions of several directors of businesses and aid agencies, and to enormous payouts to former employees. Many beneficiaries of the war vets’ actions have said they were forced to make large donations to the veterans. – AFP
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