Zimbabwe to drop local listing requirement from mining bill

Zimbabwe will drop a requirement that mining companies must list on the local stock exchange from a new mining act, according to Foreign and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo.

Industry lobby group, the Chamber of Mines, had expressed concerns about the proposal for mining firms to list locally, warning that the exchange might not be deep and liquid enough for companies to raise capital.

“Previously there was an indication that the new mining act would have a requirement to list on the local exchange,” Moyo said, speaking in London at a Chatham House event.

“But we can assure you that this qualification will be taken out.”

The original proposal was part of efforts under the country’s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa to boost investment and local ownership of Zimbabwe’s vast mineral resources.

Moyo also said Zimbabwe is committed to clearing its debt obligations with the World Bank, African Development Bank and other financial institutions.

The country needs to clear about $1.8 billion in arrears with the World Bank and the African Development Bank before it can tap other sources of development financing.

“We are committed to engaging with these key institutions as partners for growth in Zimbabwe, committed to clearing the outstanding debt with the World Bank and the African Development Bank, among others,” said Moyo.

“We believe that we are going to be able to meet all of our obligations.”

In 2016, Zimbabwe paid off 15 years’ worth of arrears to the International Monetary Fund.

Moyo added that Zimbabwe was in the process of re-establishing its membership of the Commonwealth, to which it believed it would belong again in due course.

Zimbabwe left the organisation of 53 mostly former British colonies in 2003 after then-President Robert Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe from its independence in 1980, was criticised over disputed elections and land seizures from white farmers.

Britain said on Friday it would strongly support Zimbabwe’s re-entry to the Commonwealth after Mugabe was toppled in a military coup. – The Source

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