Chinamasa appeals for more French funding

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa today appealed to the private sector arm of the French development agency to extend more financial support to the capital starved country as Zimbabwe pushes for more reengagement with multilateral donors.

Chinamasa told journalists at a joint press briefing with Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) regional director Martha Stein-Sochas that Proparco should consider scaling up support to the ailing private sector which needs fresh capital to retool and boost working capital.

“As you know Proparco has extended lines of credit to NMB and also to CABS. Through her (Stein-Sochas) I asked that she passes on a message Proparco to scale up their support to the private sector. The meeting has gone on very well,” Chinamasa said.

He said he also discussed the future funding of agriculture, energy, water and sanitation projects with the development agency.

Proparco extended $10 million loans apiece to the two financial institutions for on-lending to small to medium enterprises.

Stein-Sochas said the development agency would closely monitor Zimbabwe’s efforts to re-engage with multilateral lenders before it can fully commit to the southern African nation which has been starved of long-term funding due to an unsustainable external debt and outstanding arrears.

“AFD is following closely the negotiations between the government of Zimbabwe and the multilateral donors to your country, the World Bank and the IMF,” she said.

“We are hoping that these negotiations will be successful because they will clear the way for Zimbabwe to formally reengage both with multilateral donors and bilateral donors such as ourselves. So we are trying to get a better understanding of the situation and we are hopeful for the future.”- The Source

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