World Bank Says Zimbabwe Needs Economic Stability to Advance Debt Talks
- Nation’s debt is unsustainable, says lender’s senior economist
- It’s been locked out of international debt markets since 1999
Pedestrians and a highway in the central business district of Harare, Zimbabwe.
Photographer: Cynthia R Matonhodze/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Zimbabwe needs an uninterrupted period of macroeconomic stability of at least 12 months to help advance debt talks with international creditors over $21 billion it owes, the World Bank said.
Having a stable economy for that period “would do wonders in moving the dialog forward” and even help in the short term with stabilization,” Victor Steenbergen, senior country economist for Zimbabwe at the World Bank, told delegates Monday at an economic summit hosted by nation’s Treasury in the resort city of Victoria Falls. “We really think here that fiscal policy can be the anchor for macroeconomic stability.”