News / National
Zimbabwe sets aside $100 million for elections
04 Jul 2012 at 09:06hrs | Views
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe government has set aside $100 million for elections that President Robert Mugabe insists must be held this year.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the money came under Zimbabwe's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the IMF to mitigate the effects of the 2009 global financial crisis.
"We have withdrawn the money," Mr Biti told the Sunday Mail. He went on: "The SDR was a mere $500 million. The only money that is left is $100 million, which we cannot use because we do not know what will happen if the political leaders say they want an election.
He said the government was broke and could hardly make provisions for capital projects. "The requirements of this country exceed $18 billion," Mr Biti said. "Just on infrastructure alone within the next five years, the country needs $12 billion."
A fortnight ago, Sunday Mail reported that Mr Biti was being investigated by police following the disappearance of $20 million drawn from the SDR.
An emergency Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Angola in May gave Zimbabwe's inclusive government 12 months to organise fresh elections.
The decision was seen as a rejection of President Mugabe's stance that the polls must be held with or without electoral and security sector reforms.
South African President Jacob Zuma was appointed by SADC to mediate in talks between parties in Zimbabwe's coalition government to create the environment for peaceful elections.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has given foreign-owned banks a year to hand over their majority stakes to locals in what analysts say would be the last straw to a comatose economy.
The latest directive, contained in a government notice made public on Tuesday, will see all foreign owned businesses surrendering 51 per cent of their stakes to locals.
Foreign-owned businesses with an asset value of $1 would be forced to surrender their stakes under the programme, which President Robert Mugabe says is a way of hitting back at countries that imposed sanctions on his inner circle.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the money came under Zimbabwe's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the IMF to mitigate the effects of the 2009 global financial crisis.
"We have withdrawn the money," Mr Biti told the Sunday Mail. He went on: "The SDR was a mere $500 million. The only money that is left is $100 million, which we cannot use because we do not know what will happen if the political leaders say they want an election.
He said the government was broke and could hardly make provisions for capital projects. "The requirements of this country exceed $18 billion," Mr Biti said. "Just on infrastructure alone within the next five years, the country needs $12 billion."
A fortnight ago, Sunday Mail reported that Mr Biti was being investigated by police following the disappearance of $20 million drawn from the SDR.
An emergency Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Angola in May gave Zimbabwe's inclusive government 12 months to organise fresh elections.
The decision was seen as a rejection of President Mugabe's stance that the polls must be held with or without electoral and security sector reforms.
South African President Jacob Zuma was appointed by SADC to mediate in talks between parties in Zimbabwe's coalition government to create the environment for peaceful elections.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has given foreign-owned banks a year to hand over their majority stakes to locals in what analysts say would be the last straw to a comatose economy.
The latest directive, contained in a government notice made public on Tuesday, will see all foreign owned businesses surrendering 51 per cent of their stakes to locals.
Foreign-owned businesses with an asset value of $1 would be forced to surrender their stakes under the programme, which President Robert Mugabe says is a way of hitting back at countries that imposed sanctions on his inner circle.
Source - sundaymail
