Has MDC panicked over Zimbabwe-IMF deal?

The Movement for Democratic Change seems to have panicked over the proposed Staff Monitored Programme that Zimbabwe and the International Monetary Fund have agreed and has accused the international financial institution of supporting a tyrannical regime.

“The proposed IMF Staff Monitored Program is an entry point for full support of the regime and it ignores the factors arresting the Zimbabwean economy,” the MDC said in a statement today.

The SMP which aims to implement “a coherent set of policies that can facilitate a return to macroeconomic stability” still has to be approved by the IMF management.

The MDC blasted the IMF for entering into an agreement with Zimbabwe arguing that last year’s election was disputed and was condemned by organisation like the International Republican Institute, the European Union and the Commonwealth.

The elections were, however, endorsed by the Southern African Development Community and the African Union as well as the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.

The MDC said the SMP was unsustainable because at the core of Zimbabwe’s failure to turn around the economy is the issue of corruption which is benefitting a small clique.

“The SMP is an entry point for full support for the regime whilst bypassing reforms. It is unsustainable,” the opposition party said.

“Zimbabwe needs genuine reforms and not slogans. The IMF is not and has never been able to hold tyrannical regimes to account. Instead, under the excuse of sovereignty and through the instrumentality of these SMPs it has bought breathing space for autocrats unwilling and incapable of reform.”

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