Biti in hot soup over $500 million received from IMF

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, under police investigation as to how the controversial $500 million Zimbabwe received from the International Monetary Fund in 2009 was used, says the funds were spent on infrastructure projects and alleviating the chronic liquidity crisis in the financial market.

Biti said part of the money was specifically used to fund infrastructure projects, lines of credit, boosting the RBZ's lender of the last resort position, agriculture and clearing debts.

Zimbabwe got a Special Drawing Rights allocation of 324.4 million, an equivalent of $512.3 million in 2009, after the IMF injected $283 billion into the global economy to provide liquidity and boost member countries' dwindling foreign exchange reserves at the height of the financial crisis.

In a bid to fend off secret police investigations into the case, Biti said the money was put to good use.