Zimbabwe working very hard to clear arrears

Zimbabwe is working "very hard" to clear arrears to three preferred creditors to be able to access financing to reboot the economy, the country's International Monetary Fund (IMF) resident representative Christian Beddies has said.

Last year, Zimbabwe agreed to pay its combined $1,8 billion arrears to the three preferred creditors IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank by end of April to unlock cheap lines of credit. Critics said at the time the target was unrealistic.

Beddies said the raising of the money depended on government's negotiations and the IMF was not part of that. He said there were significant downside risks from a deepening crisis adding that there was urgent need to restore confidence, which "would be best achieved through a strong economic transformation programme that could be supported by the International Financial Institutions after arrears clearance".