Afreximbank to conclude $500 million facility for Zimbabwe within two weeks

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has agreed to provide Zimbabwe with a $500 million Nostro stabilisation facility and the processes should be concluded by the end of this month.

The bank said in a statement that its president Benedict Oramah held talks with Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in Bali, Indonesia last week. The meeting was also attended by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya, who also sits on the board of Afreximbank.

It said the meeting highlighted various bank facilities that are currently operational in Zimbabwe.

“They discussed the modality of the $500-million Nostro stabilization facility which Zimbabwe had requested from the bank and agreed on the processes toward concluding that transaction by the end of October 2018,” the statement said.

“The ultimate goal of the facility is to secure payments for essential imports and to promote exports, diaspora remittances and deposit of foreign currency. It is envisaged that this will restore foreign currency liquidity and stability in the market.”

The market went haywire following new monetary and fiscal measures announced by Mangudya and Ncube at the beginning of this month.

Parallel market rates which had rocketed plunged on Thursday last week but are reported to be going up again.

Ncube said while the government had no control over the parallel market rates, the official market rate was 1:1 .

“That is the official exchange rate. So really, we cannot be commenting about movements in the parallel markets to influence our policy,” he said.

“However, having said that, what we can say is that people should desist from being involved in the parallel market, both in terms of currency activities and activities on the goods market.”

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