Zimbabwe Plans $1 Billion Infrastructure Bond in 2019 for Roads

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwe plans to sell $1 billion of bonds next year to fund projects that include expanding the main road between the capital and the border with South Africa, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said.

The southern African nation wants to improve the highway linking Harare with the border town of Beit Bridge, he told business leaders in the capital Friday.

Yesterday, Ncube unveiled his 2019 budget in which he cut civil servants’ pay and announced a series of other steps to reduce the government’s bloated wage bill. Citizens are suffering through surging inflation, foreign-currency shortages, a sticky fiscal gap and the country has to find cash to pay arrears to lenders so it can restart aid programs that could revive the economy.

“We need to deal with arrears clearance and we are making excellent progress,” Ncube said. “Next year, we would have cleared about $2 billion, I am determined to have it cleared.”

Source: Bloomberg Business News