Zimbabwe is likely to continue to struggle to raise funds internationally to buy the government time to get the economy and the country moving again. According to Gerry Rice, director of communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the organisation is unable to make any further loans to Zimbabwe even though the country is no longer in debt to the IMF. “Zimbabwe continues to be in a difficult situation regarding debt, with protracted arrears to official creditors including multilateral creditors such as the World Bank which severely limit Zimbabwe's access to international financial support,” he told a televised media conference ahead of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “In terms of the IMF, Zimbabwe has in fact cleared its arrears to us, to the Fund, but our rules preclude lending to a country that is still in or under arrears to other international financial situations. “So, until that particular situation is resolved, we would not be moving forward with financial support for Zimbabwe,” he added. The Zimbabwean government has an estimated US$17 billion in domestic and foreign debt, and a trade deficit of around US $1.8 billion. “Zimbabwe is facing major challenges – and just in terms of the unrest we encourage all stakeholders to collaborate peacefully in developing and implementing policies that will stabilise the economy and promote sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Rice. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has warned that some of its members will have to close their doors at the end of January due to a shortage of hard currency. According to the chamber its members have a backlog of US$480 million in outstanding payments to foreign suppliers.
