Paris Club, one of the international financiers approached by the Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube seeking a financial bailout package for Zimbabwe has responded to the professor and said they cannot confidently help Zimbabwe till it implements substantive and sustainable political and economic reforms, Newsday reports.
Responding to Mthuli’s SOS request, Paris Club chairperson Odile Renaud Basso wrote to the treasury boss and said:
Paris Club members insist, however, on the fact that the government of Zimbabwe’s desire to normalise its relations with the international community can only advance following the implementation of substantive and sustainable political and economic reforms, in particular regarding the respect for human rights, especially freedoms of assembly and expression.
Paris Club also said Zimbabwe could get money if it settled its other debts with other financiers:
…The normalisation of relations including any potential debt treatment can only begin once Zimbabwe has cleared all arrears to International Financial Institutions in particular to the World Bank and the African Development Bank. In addition the Paris Club will be closely monitoring IFI support to Zimbabwe for COVID-19 assistance programmes.
Zimbabwe’s external debt is in excess of 4 Billion and this has made borrowing hard for the inflation ravaged socio-economic troubled Southern African nation.
More: Newsday