Tycoon Seen Scoring From Zimbabwe’s $3.4 Billion Off-Budget Debt
- Treasury-bill issuance amounted to printing cash, Sentry says
- Sanctioned mogul Tagwirei identified as biggest beneficiary
Photographer: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images
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Zimbabwe’s central bank issued $3.4 billion worth of Treasury bills without following normal budget procedures and gave some of the securities to a tycoon, who used them to fund the acquisition of state-owned mines, according to a report issued by The Sentry.
The exposé by the nonprofit organization that investigates alleged corruption reveals for the first time the extent to which the debt apparently benefited Kudakwashe Tagwirei, an adviser to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It may also partly explain why the Zimbabwean dollar crashed after its 2019 reintroduction and inflation surged to more than 800%.