The US has since 2001 blocked funding from the IMF and World Bank to censure the regime of President Robert Mugabe for violent suppression of political opponents and reckless economic policies that turned the once prosperous nation into a failed state.
The Herald quoted US Ambassador Charles Ray saying: "We would want to assure Zimbabwe that once the issue of restoring Zimbabwe's voting rights is put forward for debate at the next IMF sitting, America will fully support the motion."
Those comments signal a major shift in Washington's tough stance towards Harare, according to diplomats.
US embassy spokesperson Tim Gerhardson said that Ray, who took up his post late last year, had added in his brief interview with the Herald that the US would not, however, table or initiate a motion for the restoration of Harare's voting rights in the IMF.
Diplomats said it was clear that the concession announced by Ray did not stretch to targeted sanctions against Mugabe's inner circle, which forbids them from entering the United States and from investing there. Most Western governments have similar bans against top officials from Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party.
The move follows repeated appeals from pro-democracy Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, partner in a unity government with Mugabe since February 2009.
Zimbabwe's economy has showed significant improvement since Mugabe's policies were ditched but economists say Zimbabweans will remain mired in poverty without major international assistance.
Zimbabwe lost its rights to borrow money from the IMF and the World Bank in the late 1990s when the government fell seriously into arrears on loan repayments.
Diplomats say, however, that the US has never had to exercise its veto against Zimbabwe borrowing, because the regime was already disqualified by its combined arrears of $1.1bn to the IMF, the World Bank and subsidiary the African Development Bank.
- SAPA
