FORMER Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano on Monday visited President Emmerson Mnangagwa to discuss political and socio-economic issues affecting the nation.
Chissano is the High-Level Facilitator for Zimbabwe‘s debt clearance processes.
He was accompanied by Luisa Diogo, a technical advisor and former Prime Minister of Mozambique.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting at State House, Chissano said the main purpose of his visit was to check on the progress made so far regarding the national debt clearance process.
Zimbabwe owes international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank over USD17.5 billion.
Debt owed to international creditors stands at US$14.04 billion, while domestic debt comes to US$3.4 billion. Debt owed to bilateral creditors is estimated at US$5.75 billion, while debt to multilateral creditors is estimated at US$2.5 billion.
“I am here to be better educated on the political, and socio-economic situation of Zimbabwe as I am playing the role of the high-level facilitator with the international financial institutions and partners, so l have to be well informed about the country’s situation and the thinking of Zimbabwean leadership and its people.
“We touch on two main parts regarding the dialogue and these include the governance and the economic parts and we are concerned with both,” Chissano said.
Zimbabwe has struggled to repay the debt which has accumulated over the years.
With Chissano’s help, Zimbabwe has held several structured dialogue meetings on debt with creditors.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube addressed the media clarifying Chissano’s visit.
“This is the continuation of engagements around the debt arrears’ dialogue and process. As you know it is in motion to discuss economic issues and one of these issues has been around currency reform. The introduction of Zimbabwe’s new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) is also part of that dialogue. The actions we have taken in taking over liabilities of the Central Bank so that they are all centralised within government through the treasury.
“The issue of white farmers’ compensation is on the table in terms of dialogue. That is what this conversation has been all about, calibrating, and checking where we are in terms of the dialogue process. We will be having other meetings, Global, IMF, World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC next week.
“Whilst we are there, we will commit to dialogue with International Financial institutions and other partners and again, President Chissano as our champion and facilitator will be available for those meetings,’’ Ncube said.
Since late 2022, the government of Zimbabwe has been engaged in a concerted process to resolve its official debt and clear its arrears with international creditors, including the African Development Bank.
Source New Zimbabwe
