Harare (New Ziana) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Tuesday expressed its admiration of Zimbabwe’s economic resilience which has seen it continuing being a reliable shareholder of the continental bank, despite a myriad of financial challenges.

Zimbabwe’s tough economic challenges it has had to navigate over the last two decades range from bearing the massive weight of punishing sanctions imposed by western countries, to not being able to access funding from International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

Sanctions alone, which target the economy and individuals seen as central to decision-making in Zimbabwe, are estimated to have cost the economy up to US$100 billion over the last two decades.

Under the sanctions, American and western companies in general are barred from investing and trading with Zimbabwe, while multilateral lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have also stopped advancing loans to the country.

As a result, the country’s economy shrunk considerably, forcing an estimated three million highly skilled Zimbabweans to emigrate to neighboring countries and beyond.

But, in spite of these glaring challenges, AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina said Zimbabwe was commendably managing to pay some of its monetary obligations to the bank and others that it owed.

“Zimbabwe has continued, despite the economic challenges it faces, to be a very reliable partner and shareholder of the bank. Zimbabwe paid US$9.6 million of its general capital increase for the sixth general capital increase of the bank, as for the seventh general capital increase, Zimbabwe is on track and Zimbabwe has continued to make token payments of roughly US$700 000 a year to service some of the outstanding debt to us and to the World Bank and to others.” he said after meeting President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House.

Despite the sanctions and absence of funding from IFIs, Zimbabwe has also forged ahead with financing its own development agenda.

Presently, massive infrastructure development projects, the majority of which are internally funded, are taking shape across the country in various sectors of the economy including transport and agriculture.

On top of that, friendly countries such as China and Russia are also investing heavily in infrastructure and in other areas such as mining.
New Ziana