UTTER NONSENSE : UK DISMISSES ED'S $100M CLAIMS

President Mnangagwa's claim that the $100 million UK loan would be used to ease cash shortages in the country as utter nonsense. Bri...

President Mnangagwa's claim that the $100 million UK loan would be used to ease cash shortages in the country as utter nonsense.

British deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe, Simon Thomas, dismissed the notion that the money was meant to ease cash shortages.

“Utter nonsense. Read the CDC group Press statement,” he said on Twitter. “It could not be clearer that this is about much-needed credit lines to struggling Zimbabwe private sector on commercial terms.

“Not a cent is going anywhere near government, let alone political parties,” he said. 

CDC said the loan was only for recapitalisation to revive local industry and not to resolve the cash crisis.

“We’ve partnered with Standard Chartered to provide up to $100 million of new lending to businesses in Zimbabwe.

“It’s the largest investment in the country’s private sector for several years,” CDC said.
The British embassy, through its official and verified Twitter account, reiterated that the money was targeted at the private sector.

“Good to see support for hard-pressed Zimbabwean private sector,” the embassy, which has increasingly come under pressure for aidin Zanu PF and meddling in the country’s internal politics, said.

Addressing Zanu PF supporters in Mutare on Saturday, Mnangagwa said following the thawing of relations between the two nations, the United Kingdom had given Zimbabwe a $100 million soft loan to resolve the cash crisis, which has seen Zimbabweans sleeping in bank queues to withdraw as little as $20 per day.

“The British Prime Minister (Theresa May) has so far sent three envoys into the country and we had talks with the British this week (last week) and just last Tuesday, they gave us $100 million to ease the cash crisis in our country,” he told a cheering crowd at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare on Saturday.
“We are going to receive more money, which is on its way. We want to ensure that everyone can access their money from the bank and be able to use it.”