Melinda Kusemachibi
Zimbabwe government has got a debt of US$19,5b or 68,5percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which when analyzed translate to every child born in Zimbabwe having a debt of US$100 000, former Finance minister Tendai Biti has said.
Speaking at a Zimbabwe Public Debt Indaba held at Rainbow Towers in Harare on March 29, 2022, Biti who is also vice president of Citizens for Coalition Change (CCC) said Zimbabwean debts now exceed US$19, 5 billion as published by the reports of IMF on March 24.
“I was shocked this morning when l was preparing for my talk to actually discover that the consolidated debts of Zimbabwe now exceed US$19,5billion or 68, 5percent of gross domestic product. These figures are published in the conclusion of the IMF articles 4 report which was published last week (March 24, 2022).
“So for a country like this to actually have US$19 billion worth of debt, divide the debts to the population as we are about around 13 million people means that every child that is born in the country and everyone who is looking at me, owe the IMF from where you do not know at least US$100 000 and l know you do not have it,” said Biti.
According to the IMF report released on March 24, 2022 pandemics and natural disasters led to deep increase in inflation.
“Zimbabwe experienced severe exogenous shocks (cyclone Idai, protracted drought, and the Covid-19 pandemic) during 2019-20, which along with policy missteps in 2019, led to a deep recession and high inflation. Real GDP contracted cumulatively by 11.7 percent during 2019-20 and inflation reached 837 percent (y/y) by July 2020. The authorities’ swift response to the pandemic, including through containment measures, economic and social support, helped contain its adverse impact. Pandemic-related spending, equivalent to 2 percent of GDP, in 2020 was financed by reallocation within the budget.
“In 2021, such outlays represented about 1.6 percent of GDP, partially financed by the SDR allocation. In addition, expenditures were increased to bolster food security and farm inputs to vulnerable households. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced a medium-term bank accommodation lending facility and private sector lending facility,” read part of the IMF report.
Zimbabweans are being heavily taxed through continuous price hikes, and the intermediated money transfer taxes that keep increasing.
