Zimbabwe clears IMF debt
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that Zimbabwe has cleared its arrears, after paying $108 million on Thursday.
Zimbabwe, which has been in arrears since 2001, used its allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocated to all IMF member states in 2009 as part of a global financial rescue package to clear the outstanding amount.
In a statement IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said,
On October 20, 2016, Zimbabwe settled its overdue financial obligations to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) of the IMF. Zimbabwe had been in continuous arrears since 2001. To settle these obligations, which amounted to SDR 78.3 million (about US$107.9 million), Zimbabwe transferred part of its SDR holdings kept at the IMF to the PRGT account. Zimbabwe is now current on all its financial obligations to the IMF.
Harare received $500 million in SDR, released by the IMF to cushion member countries from the global financial crisis in 2009 but maintained reserves of about $130 million. Zimbabwe still owes AfDB ($601 million) and World Bank ($1,15 billion).
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