France not yet ready to extend financial support to Zim

Published: 07 November 2013

France says it is not yet ready to extend any financial support or credit lines to Zimbabwe.

Laurent Delahouse, the country's ambassador to Zimbabwe, yesterday said his government was still assessing the economic and political situation before committing.

Delahouse who met Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa in a closed door meeting in Harare yesterday said they discussed ways to intensify trade and economic links between the 2 countries.

This comes a few days after Zimbabwe was named among the so-called highly indebted poor countries likely to benefit from debt cancelations by the French government next year.

France's social economy minister Benoît Hamon confirmed the plan Tuesday, saying: "In 2014, an estimated five countries could see their debt completely erased: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Ivory Coast and Sudan.

"The debt relief is almost immediate, since we are transferring loans made in the past into donations".

It could not be established how much Zimbabwe owes France but the country is chocking under a debt pile estimated at more than $10 billion

The obligations include some $3 billion owed to the Paris Club, about $2 billion to the World Bank and US$600m to the African Development Bank.

The French government is expected cancel $2.42 billion of poor countries' debt in its 2014 budget, up from $819 million the year before.

Countries in the French debt cancellation programme continue to pay their debt back to France but when the refund is completed, France transfers the corresponding amount back by assigning it to programmes to fight poverty.
- dailynews

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