Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made regarding the government of Zimbabwe’s attempt to access external funding from multilateral financial institutions including the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank.

Baroness Verma

The Government of Zimbabwe has been in arrears to the International Financial Institutions for over a decade. This prevents Zimbabwe from accessing any new financing for development from the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank.

The Government of Zimbabwe presented its plans to clear multilateral arrears at a side meeting during the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, in October. Bilateral creditors at the meeting, including the UK, broadly welcomed the intention of the Government of Zimbabwe to work towards arrears clearance, but stressed that implementation of reforms would be necessary to achieve debt resolution.