Staff Reporter
…..in the wake of Biti’s Twitter rants at IMF
In an effort to save face, the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa made an about-turn from their original position of trying to keep Zimbabwe financially isolated, through a letter from MDC A vice president Tendai Biti to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requesting for Zimbabwe to be withdrawn from countries eligible to receive funding under the Special Drawing Rights.
It is evident that Biti is irked by the IMF’s disbursement of the SDR to Zimbabwe, and makes effort to cast doubt on the abilities of the ruling Government, yet the disbursement of the SDR to Zimbabwe is testimony of IMF confidence on the country.
Biti is so desperate for the spotlight and he continues to live in the past not realising that Zimbabwe is on another level of development, economically, socially and politically thanks to the engagement and re-engagement policy.
Speaking through a press statement Biti said, “As a Government in waiting, our priority is to be vigilant and call for transparency and stronger scrutiny on how the SDR’s will be disbursed.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Professor Mthuli Ncube through a press statement shed light on how Treasury plans to diligently use the finances to further better Zimbabwe.
“The immediate impact of this support from the IMF is to increase the foreign exchange reserves position of the country by US$961 million. This will go a long way in buttressing the stability of our domestic currency.
“The funds will be used prudently, with utmost accountability, to support the social sectors namely health, education, and the vulnerable groups; productive sectors that include industry, agriculture and mining: infrastructure investment covering roads and housing, and foreign currency reserves and contingency fund, to support our domestic currency and macro-economic stability,” said Prof Ncube.
A few months back Biti described the IMF as a naïve and dishonest institution after it published a report forecasting a 7% growth in Zimbabwe's economy.
“The IMF press statement was naïve and dishonest. It reminded me of IMF reports that used to be issued in 2014/15/16 by an IMF chief known as Dominic Fanizer who later on left the IMF and joined the Development Bank,” said Biti during a policy dialogue organised by SAPES to discuss the recent IMF and World bank reports.
Under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, friends and former foes are noting the developments that have occurred since President Mnangagwa took over in 2017 that warrant Zimbabwe to receive the SDR.
Biti’s desire to inflict pain on the people of Zimbabwe has been rendered ineffective. Relations are warming and Government has continued to ensure that its citizens are well taken care off, with better health care, education, roads and other infrastructural developments, alleviation of poverty through the introduction of smart agriculture and the presidential input scheme, drilling of boreholes, dams and irrigation infrastructure, stability of the foreign currency system and the re-introduction of the Zimbabwean dollar. Biti fails to understand that not only his statement can affect Zimbabwe from accessing its privileges, there is a lot that the IMF considers other than the opposition’s word of mouth, and from the looks of things Zimbabwe is on right path to economic prosperity.
What Biti and company should understand is that even all countries with voting rights in the IMF who are in good standing without arrears are eligible to access the SDRs. Equally Zimbabwe is amongst those countries, having cleared its debt in 2016. The USA, Sweden and South Africa also received these SDRs from the IMF, with the USA getting an allocation of US$79.546 billion, Sweden getting US$4.246 and South Africa getting US$2.924.
Meanwhile tensions continue to tighten between Biti and Chamisa with former having to be kept under a tight leash during the visit to Zambia for the Inauguration of President Hakainde Hichilema. Word has it that Chamisa is aware of Biti’s attempts to usurp his leadership powers.
