The African Development Bank has approved almost US$8.9 million in grant for six (6) countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) including Zimbabwe.
The grant is meant for the procurement of laboratory and medical equipment in Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe which are among the countries with insufficient resources to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The bank noted in a statement:
<blockquote>
The financing will reinforce the Sadc’s capacity to coordinate pandemic response measures, including surveillance and sensitization in the six beneficiary countries.
The Sadc countries and São Tomé &amp; Príncipe have inadequate resources and capacity to effectively manage the Covid-19 pandemic, which has put a strain on already fragile health systems in the countries.
As a result, these countries are now struggling to respond effectively to the fast-evolving situation posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
</blockquote>
This comes when the number of officially recorded cases in Africa are steadily rising amid fears of a second wave of the virus.
The outbreak of the novel virus has caused stalled the growth of many economies, including those of developed states, thereby worsening the economic and humanitarian crisis that preceded the outbreak of the virus.
More: <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/afdb-approves-covid-19-grant-for-zim-and-5-sadc-states/">Chronicle</a>

Pindula News

AFDB Approves US$8.9 For Zimbabwe And 5 Other SADC States

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has extended water-shedding to 144 hours as levels of water in the local government authority’s sources of water have dwindled to unprecedented levels.
The local authority recently decommissioned Lower Ncema Dam after the water level reached an all-time low of 6,49%, bringing the number of decommissioned dams to three.
BCC’s Town Clerk, Christopher Dube announced the water-shedding in a statement that read in part:
<blockquote>Since the decommissioning of the Upper Ncema and Umzingwane dams, the city has been unable to meet its daily demand which averages 155 megalitres (ML) per day.
The maximum available raw water supply is currently at 94 ML per day. As a result of the gap between demand and supply of 59ML per day, the city has been on water-shedding since February 2019.</blockquote>
Water is a perennial challenge for most local authorities in Zimbabwe but has been more pronounced for Harare and Bulawayo.
Meanwhile, the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is financing the Bulawayo Water and Sanitation Services Improvement Project (BWSSIP) estimated at US$33 million says that all the works should be delivered before the end of 2020.
The project is expected to rehabilitate and upgrade water production and treatment facilities, water supply and sewerage networks.
More: <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/05/byo-extends-water-shedding-to-144-hours/">NewsDay</a>

Bulawayo Extends Water-Shedding

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube has announced that the African Development Bank (AFDB) has unveiled US$10.4 million for the Grand Protocol project between the Zimbabwean government and the AFDB.
The Minister revealed that the money will be used to support ZIMRA, Parliament and the Auditor General’s office.
He said, specifically, the money will be used for the modernisation of revenue mobilisation and tax administration system, strengthening parliament monitoring and oversight role, and enhancing the capacity of the Office of the Auditor-General.
Ncube also said that the government of Zimbabwe will on its part contribute US$1.1 million towards the
He added that the money will go a long way in supporting Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 which seeks to transform Zimbabwe into a middle-income economy.
More: <a href="https://www.voazimbabwe.com/a/african-development-bank/5239199.html">VOA News</a>

Finance Minister: African Development Bank Unveils US$10.4M For Zimbabwe

The government of Zambia has confirmed that the African Development Bank has sanctioned the country over its failure to repay loans.
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African Development Bank Puts Zambia Under Sanctions Over Failure To Repay Loans

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Zimbabwe needs to clear its debt with other creditors for it to start receiving financing from the Bretton Woods institution.
Zimbabwe cleared its arrears with the Fund but owes the African Development Bank and the World Bank a combined US$2 billion.
Responding to a question by the Insider on Thursday on how Zimbabwe can go back on track and open doors for financial assistance, IMF Director of Communications, Gerry Rice said:
<blockquote>So what would Zimbabwe need to do to, you know, get financing from the IMF and others? Zimbabwe is in good standing with the IMF, okay, I’ve said that before here. They have cleared their arrears with the IMF, but for financing to be forthcoming from the Fund, they would need to clear their arrears also to other international financial institutions.
We would need some financing assurances as we always do in our programs from other official bilateral creditors, and what I just said and what you asked, agreeing on a coherent set of economic policies that we think would put the country back on the path of macro stability and lay the foundation for growth.</blockquote>
Rice also said that Zimbabwe needed to restore macro and financial stability, something that requires a fiscal adjustment.
The Fund also advised Zimbabwe to adopt reforms to allow the effective functioning of market-based foreign exchange and debt markets.
Rice added that Zimbabwe needed structural reforms, including reform and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
Zimbabwe also needs to enhance governance including in procurement and revenue administration, and generally improve the business environment.
More: <a href="http://www.insiderzim.com/zimbabwe-in-good-standing-with-the-imf-but/">The Insider</a>

IMF Sets Conditions For Zimbabwe To Start Receiving Financing

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that it has not suspended financing to Zimbabwe. The AfDB said that it will give out grants and only resume loans when Zimbabwe clears its arrears of US$600 million. In an interview with The Zimbabwe Independent, AfDB country manager Damoni Kitabire said,
<blockquote>Let us get this right again; it is true Zimbabwe is in arrears to the AfDB. Since Zimbabwe is in arrears, there are certain things we cannot do. For example, we are not giving loans but we are giving grants. Right now we have an ongoing portfolio of about US$223 million in grants that we are implementing in Zimbabwe in various sectors. We have activities in energy; we have activities in water development in Bulawayo. We have activities supporting governance. The studies that Zeparu is undertaking, we are actually financing that. We are not lending because Zimbabwe is still in arrears. We have suspended loans, but we are giving out grants…Right now there is no suspension of financing, we are giving grants. Once the arrears are done we will resume the loans. Now there are a whole lot of things that need to be done. Things we want to see include macroeconomic stability, the financial system—fiscal consolidation.</blockquote>
<a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2018/05/18/african-development-bank-pledge-us50m-loan-for-private-sector/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The AfDB has also pledged US$50 million in loans for the private sector.</a>
More: <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2018/05/24/afdb-giving-government-grants-not-loans-kitabire/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Zimbabwe Independent</a>

We Are Giving Grants To Zim, We Will Resume Loans Once Arrears Are Cleared: AfDB

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that it can loan private companies in Zimbabwe a maximum of US$50 million this year. It stressed that the loans were only available for the private sector as it is still negotiating with the government over the US$600 million the government owes.
In an interview with The Zimbabwe independent, AfDB country manager Damoni Kitabire,
<blockquote>We are not giving loans to the public sector; we are giving loans to the private sector. We are now trying to see where else we can intervene.
We are now scanning the (investment) environment now and we are looking at doing another US$25 million to US$50 million before the year ends, depending on whether we can find a viable project. The maximum we can commit this year is US$50 million.</blockquote>
<a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2018/05/17/uk-government-avails-100/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The United Kingdom has also committed loans worth $100 million to the private sector.</a>
More: <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2018/05/18/continental-bank-pledges-us50m-loan-companies/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Zimbabwe Independent</a>

African Development Bank Pledges US$50m Loan For Private Sector

The government has secured a $1.7 billion loan to pay off its debts to the World Bank and to the African Development Bank. It owes $1.1 billion to the World Bank and $600 million to the AfDB. However, the source of the loan is still to be revealed.
In an interview Finance and Economic Development, Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Bloomberg
<blockquote>It should reduce our country-risk profile and also make us eligible for access to soft windows of those institutions — we need new inflows,
It also opens up to other institutions to do business with us and also make us able to access international capital.
Clearance of debt arrears is expected to attract in the short to medium and long term foreign and domestic investment, given perceptions of lower country risk, and would be expected to open the door to foreign finance inflows and possible debt treatment by the Paris Club and non-Paris Club Bilateral Creditors through an IMF financing programme.</blockquote>
More: <a href="http://www.chronicle.co.zw/zim-secures-loan-to-clear-1-7bn-afdb-world-bank-debt/">Chronicle</a>

Zimbabwe secures loan to pay off $1.7 billion AfDB and World Bank loans

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa confirmed that Zimbabwe had secured US$1,1 billion from Singaporean commodities firm Trafigura Group to clear World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) debts.
Said Chinamasa:
<blockquote>The Government of Zimbabwe is pleased to announce that it has met all the conditions precedent to the repayment of debt arrears to the World bank and the AfDB. This positive development comes after the country successfully settled its debt arrears to the IMF on October 20, 2016.</blockquote>
The money that was secured from Trafigura is part of the Lima Plan which was designed in 2015 to clear Zimbabwe’s arrears and secure US$2 billion in funding.
More: Zimbabwe Independent

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