The World Bank has become the
latest institution to dismiss Zimbabwe's bid to access fresh loans from
international lenders, unless the country first clears its arrears. Zimbabwe's
external debt runs into billions of dollars and, last year, the country
formally approached the World Bank for debt relief under the 'Highly Indebted
Poor Countries' (HIPC) scheme.
However, the bank has since
indicated that the country does not qualify for support and will need a
comprehensive arrears clearance framework with the international community to
qualify for fresh loans or further financial assistance.
"Zimbabwe's eligibility to
receive assistance under the HIPC Initiative remains unclear," the World
Bank said in its latest report.
"(The) Country could
potentially be eligible for assistance if it meets end-2004 and end-2010
indebtedness criteria and if it clears its arrears to the (IMF's) Poverty
Reduction and Growth Trust," the report further stated.
Tim Jones, policy manager at
global lobby group Jubilee Debt Campaign said Zimbabwe was not automatically
eligible for the "poor countries initiative".
"So a political decision has
to be made over issues to do with the indebtedness criteria statistics has to
be made for it to be considered for the scheme.
"There have been indications
in the past from the World Bank and western governments that they will be
willing to let Zimbabwe in but that was very much linked to political changes
in the country," Jones said.
Jones added: "Following the
July election result, it's hard to tell what's going to happen in future
although we know that the Zanu PF government never wanted to go the
highly-indebted poor countries route."
Original article: http://allafrica.com/stories/201401080376.html
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