Botswana hints at giving more to Zimbabwe

Finance and Development Planning minister Kenneth Matambo has indicated that there is room for an extension of the credit facility towards economic revival of Zimbabwe.

On Monday, Botswana and Zimbabwe signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Harare to pave the way for the release of a P500-million credit facility to Zimbabwe that Botswana pledged three years ago in the aftermath of a power sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 2009.

But there had been delays in the release of the funds owing to demands for assurance from the local business community. Last year, the two neighbours ratified a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection (BIPPA) agreement to meet the demands of the business community, thereby paving way for the sealing of the deal.