REVEALED- Reasons Why Zimbabwe Was Excluded From IMF Debt Relief.
14 April 2020
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By Simba Chikanza| The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has excluded Zimbabwe from its list of 25 countries for debt relief, and the main reason is that Zimbabwe is out of the threshold for eligible countries.

Even though Zimbabwe has paid off its debt to the IMF, the institution has said Zimbabwe is still in need of debt relief, and an IMF executive is on video recently saying Zimbabwe remains handicapped because it owes several international lenders.

In the latest development, the two reasons why the IMF excluded Zimbabwe from its list of 25 countries, are that: Zimbabwe’s GNI is greater than the other nations’.

The GNI per capita is the dollar is the dollar value of a country’s final income in a year, divided by its population.

The second reason is that Zimbabwe has cleared its debt.

In a response to ZimEye on Tuesday morning, an official said:

“Zimbabwe does not qualify as its per capita GNI is above the eligibility threshold (set at the IDA operational cutoff of $1,175). Moreover, it does not have outstanding debt to the IMF.
Please see the factsheet on CCRT a discussed.
https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/16/49/Catastrophe-Containment-and-Relief-Trust. “

Yesterday, IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva issued the following statement:

“Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts.

“The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the U.K. and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries.”

The countries that will receive debt service relief today are: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.