The Central Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) borrowed $ 985 million from pan-African lending institutions in 2018 to cover commodity imports. The announcement was made on March 4, 2019 before the parliament by John Mangudya, the governor.
Indeed, total debt amounts to USD 641 million to the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), USD 152 million to the Eastern and Southern African Development Bank and USD 25 million to the African Development Bank. Central Bank of neighboring Mozambique
This is indeed a panacea for Harare. The country is rejected by conventional donors including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank because of arrears, according to Mr. Mangudya, reached $ 2.4 billion.
“The loans in question are well-structured facilities, contracted last year. They will be paid on future gold export claims, “said the governor.
For their part, government borrowing from the Central Bank reached 2.99 billion USD at the end of 2018, says the director of the central bank, three times the limit of overdraft allowed.
In April 2018, Zimbabwe’s public debt reached 90% of GDP (55% of external public debt GDP and 35% of domestic debt GDP) while arrears with multilateral donors remained at high levels.
