Zimbabwe halves 2016 growth forecast, budget deficit widens

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s economy will grow by 0.6 percent in 2016, half the previous forecast, but will recover next year, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a budget speech on Thursday. Chinamasa said the budget deficit for the 2017 fiscal year was estimated at $400 million, equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, up from 1.1 percent in this year. In addition, Zimbabwe expects its 2016 fiscal budget deficit to widen to $1.18 billion, nearly…

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Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe decrees regulations paving way for bond notes

Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe decrees regulations paving way for bond notes

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has side-stepped parliament to issue a decree clearing the way for the introduction of “bond notes” that have raised fears of a return to a domestic currency abandoned in 2009 as hyperinflation crippled the economy. The bond notes are meant to ease biting cash shortages that have gripped the southern African nation since March but have helped fuel anti-government protests in recent months. Mugabe late…

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Zimbabwe growth to quicken to 4.8 pct in 2017

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe expects economic growth to quicken to 4.8 percent in 2017 from 1.2 percent this year on improved agriculture production and higher global commodity prices, the Treasury said in a budget strategy document. The southern African nation is in the throes of its worst financial crisis since it switched its currency for the U.S. dollar, and its plans to introduce local bank notes next month have helped fuel protests…

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African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) officially open for business in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) officially open for business in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 19, 2016/ — At a press conference, the CEO of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), George Otieno, along with H.E. Dina Mufti, the Ethiopian Ambassador and Gabriel Negatu, Regional Director, African Development Bank announced today that it is ready to begin covering transactions in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. After a year-long process that was supported with funds from the African Development Bank, both countries are now members. The announcement will give investors…

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Zimbabwe to issue new bond notes to bolster liquidity

Zimbabwe to issue new bond notes to bolster liquidity

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – It was announced by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Dr Mangudya, on 15 September 2016, that “bond notes” will be issued by the end of October, in an effort to ease the recent cash shortages in the country. Liquidity difficulties – Zimbabwe has run out of US dollars, and does not have its own currency – have meant civil servants’ salaries are in arrears, and…

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Zambia, Zimbabwe Pick AfDB Advisers for $4 Billion Batoka Plant

Zambia, Zimbabwe Pick AfDB Advisers for $4 Billion Batoka Plant

HARARE, Capital Markets in Africa: Zambia and Zimbabwe have appointed the African Development Bank as lead financial advisers for the construction of the 2,400-megawatt Batoka Gorge hydro-power project that’s expected to cost $4 billion, an official said. The two southern African nations face severe power shortages as years of under-investment are amplified by low water levels at the Kariba dam hydro-power station that they each rely on for about half of total supplies. “Only yesterday, we were talking…

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Mugabe’s Purged Ally Appears With Tsvangirai in Opposition Boost

Mugabe’s Purged Ally Appears With Tsvangirai in Opposition Boost

HARARE, Capital Markets in Africa: Zimbabwe’s former Vice President Joice Mujuru appeared at rallies with his political foe Morgan Tsvangirai in the central city of Gweru, boosting opposition against President Robert Mugabe. Mujuru, who served in Mugabe’s first cabinet in 1980 and rose to become the 92-year-old leader’s deputy, formed Zimbabwe People First after being expelled from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front in 2014 after she was accused of plotting Mugabe’s…

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