China gifts Zim financial independence gift: writes of debt.
Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa
In a true show of friendship and to really help the people of Zimbabwe celebrate and feel independent, China has cancelled loans extended to Zimbabwe.
The bulk of the cancelled loans availed by China’s Export and Import Bank (Eximbank).
With Zimbabwe currently grappling with a debt restructuring exercke to help it unclock much needed funding, the Chinese have again remained steadfast in their support, writting off “substantial” interest free loans borrowed by Zimbabwe during the late former president Robert Mugabe’s final years in power. The wiring off gives relief to a country that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says is in ‘debt distress’.
Zimbabwe currently owes a combined US$17,5 billion to foreign and local creditors. Of this amount, about US$14 billion is owed to foreign creditors.
As a result of the debts, Zimbabwe has been shut out of international financial markets.
Multilateral creditors, including the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB), suspended extending loans to Zimbabwe in 2001 when the country started defaulting.
Mugabe left Zimbabwe saddled with a massive debt when he was toppled through a “military-assisted transition” that propelled President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the helm in 2017.
Between 2000 and 2020, Zimbabwe
With Zimbabwe’s external debt standing at about US$14 billion, debts owed to China translate to about US$2,1 billion.
The bulk of the cancelled loans were availed by China’s Export and Import Bank (Eximbank).
China writes off Zim debt deals
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