Zimbabwe’s external debt fell by 2,3% after the Southern African country paid a total of $169-million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, the central bank said on Monday.
”Zimbabwe’s total debt disbursed and outstanding [including arrears] is estimated to have declined from $4 071-million in 2004 to $3 978-million in December 2005, representing a decrease of 2,3%,” the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said in its annual report.
”This mainly reflects resource payments on public sector medium- to long-term debt, particularly to the multilateral financial institutions.”
The government paid back a total of $176,3-million in 2005, of which 95,6% ($169-million) reduced the external payments arrears to the IMF to $144-million as at December 2005, the central bank said.
The remaining $7-million were paid to other external creditors, but the bank did not specify their identities.
Zimbabwe’s economy has contracted by more than a third over the past seven years with independent analysts pegging unemployment at 80%, although Harare insists that only 9% of workers are without jobs.
The country is also battling record inflation which reached a world record 1 204% in August. — Sapa-AFP