Mnangagwa says it’s time to get back to business

President Emmerson Mnangagwa who won the 30 July elections says it is now time to work together and get back to business.

Mnangagwa’s victory is being challenged by the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance which says he rigged the results and is planning to challenge the outcome in court.

Responding to a story by Bloomberg news agency in which the World Bank said Zimbabwe could become a middle income country within a decade, Mnangagwa said: “The World Bank is right. We can and will get there. It’s now time to work together and get back to business.”

World Bank vice-president for Africa Hafez Ghanem said Zimbabwe was a country with a huge potential and “can easily become an upper middle-income country in a very short time”.

He said: “Depending on the type of programs, five to ten years. Zimbabwe has some of the most educated people on our continent, so we have human capital and we have natural resources.”

Mnangagwa has been aiming to turn Zimbabwe into a middle income economy by 2030 which led some of his critics to speculate that he wants to hang on to power like his predecessor Robert Mugabe who ruled the country for 37 years, the first seven as Prime Minister.

Zimbabwe’s constitution now limits a president to two terms of five years each.

Zimbabwe has credit arrears of about $1.7 billion to the African Development Bank and the World Bank. Zimbabwe has to clear these arrears before it can access new money.

Ghanem said the country should seek bridging finance to clear the arrears because “the expected benefits from rejoining the international financial community (are) higher than the cost of these loans.”

He added: “We are eager to support Zimbabwe”.

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