Mthuli Ncube tells Biti he did nothing about clearing Zimbabwe’s debt when he was Finance Minister- NO NO to budget in US dollars

On the issue of gold coins, someone said they should be banned, no I disagree. We should not ban gold coins. They have been very useful in mopping up liquidity and tighten monetary policy. It is a good thing. Hon. Biti makes a point that the IMF statement says we must live within our means, that is exactly what we are doing. We have been living within our means as far as budget is concerned. What happens from time to time when you have a surge in money supply, this is largely driven by the depreciation of exchange rate because some liabilities are in US$ and when you translate the impact of that depreciation, you have a surge in domestic liquidity and then it impacts the currency naturally. It is not that we have decided to increase budgetary expenditure, no. it is just the impact of currency depreciation at play.

Hon. Biti insinuated that we do not have a debt arrears clearance plan, we do. If I can challenge him – when he was Minister of Finance, he did nothing about clearing our debts. He did not do anything. I am not aware – [HON. BITI: Zimbabwe rejoined IMF]- Hon. Chinamasa tried to do something and then he was blocked. I am trying to do something. I think he should be more sympathetic. He had certain constraints which I am aware of which I will not say in this House but I am aware of them because I travel out there. I know what he was told out there because they tell me. The same people that he met, I also met them. So, we have a plan and if I can remind this House and him, we have agreed that Adesina can be our champion and we are very pleased that he is a champion for arrears clearance. We held our first high level meeting on 1 December with IFIs, the preferred creditors as well as the Paris Club Partners to discuss our roadmap. We have also roped in the former President of Mozambique, Mr. Chissano to also help us deal with some of the governance reforms. President has been very transparent, he has been leading from the front on this issue and we have a plan and a document which I am happy to share with anyone. I will gladly give him a copy.

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