EUROPEAN Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe, Jobst von Kirchmann, says the bloc will not lend to the southern African country owing to arrears even if sanctions are lifted.
The EU ambassador said the country had significant debt arrears with international banks that needed to be cleared before lending could be resumed.
The EU official made the remarks yesterday in Victoria Falls at the 2024 International Renewable Energy Conference Expo.
AMH is holding the event with support from the Energy and Power Development ministry.
“The country has borrowed money and didn’t pay it back, so for financial institutions, the country has defaulted, it’s very simple. Until the arrears are cleared. So, a sovereign guarantee from someone who has defaulted doesn’t work with the bank and it also has nothing to do with sanctions, please,” Kirchmann said.
“If all sanctions in the world, from the US [United States] and wherever, are lifted, Zimbabwe would still have arrears and still not get any sovereign lending.
“The EU doesn’t have sanctions. It has only instructed European countries to instruct their own companies not to deliver any arms to Zimbabwe.
“That’s the only thing. We do not have any sanctions. It has nothing to do with borrowing. These are two totally different things.”
Early this month, the EU extended sanctions on the Zimbabwe Defence Industries by a year.
The West imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe at the turn of the millennium over human right’s abuses and misgovernance as well as electoral fraud.
SOURCE : BULAWAYO24
