(Bloomberg) -- The African Development Bank said it plans to establish a line of credit for Zimbabwean companies following the creation of a power-sharing government this year.The Tunis-based bank will also finance projects to renovate the southern African country’s infrastructure, according to an e-mailed statement today. Zimbabwe may also benefit from the African lender’s “Fragile State Facility’’ if it needs more resources, the bank added.
“The strategy, covering the next 19 months to December 2010, is anchored on support to the inclusive government,’’ the AFDB said. “The bank will help kick-start financial sector operations, identify specific sectors, especially those covering physical infrastructure development where the bank can leverage its resources with those of other donors.” It didn’t say how much it would lend Zimbabwe.
The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, and President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party formed a unity government in February after a decade of often violent political conflict.
International lenders and donors have been reluctant to offer credit to Zimbabwe aside from technical and humanitarian aid, saying political progress must come first.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
