Zimbabwe Starts Paying for Farms It Seized to Meet Compensation Deal
- Treasury uses $20 million allocated in budget to make payments
- IMF is in the country to assess request for a staff program
A field of corn crops at a farm in Glendale, Zimbabwe.
Photographer: Cynthia R Matonhodze/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Zimbabwe has started paying reparations to nations and farmers whose land was seized in the 2000s, a step toward the restructuring of its $21 billion debt pile.
Initial disbursements were made to Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and the former Yugoslavia last month for 94 farms that were taken, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. Fifty-six farmers from those countries, which had bilateral investment-protection agreements with Zimbabwe, were also paid.