AFRICA – Zimbabwe has taken a historic step forward, turning the page on decades of economic challenges by commencing long-awaited compensation payments to affected investors(link is external). This milestone, facilitated by the African Development Bank Group, marks a crucial breakthrough in the nation’s journey toward debt resolution and full reengagement with the global financial community. The compensation initiative aligns with Zimbabwe’s broader reform agenda, which aims to clear the country’s $21 billion debt and reengage with international creditors.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa lauded African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina for his instrumental role in championing Zimbabwe’s arrears clearance(link is external) and debt resolution efforts. President Mnangagwa said Dr Adesina undertook this assignment with “impeccable zeal and commitment”. Appointed as the official champion of the process in 2022, Dr Adesina has led a high-level structured dialogue that has significantly advanced Zimbabwe’s engagement with the international financial community. Since its inception in 2022, President Adesina and president Mnangagwa have participated in six High-Level Structured Dialogues to drive forward the debt resolution process.
“In his ten years of astute and steadfast service to our continent and the peoples of Africa, Dr Adesina has revolutionized our perspective on development finance,” said president Mnangagwa. “He ignited among us a new sense of hope and confidence in what we can achieve as African people by leveraging our resources.”
Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Prof. Mthuli Ncube, confirmed the commencement of payments, emphasizing that honouring these commitments is vital for building trust, improving investor confidence, and achieving debt sustainability. “This process is critical for building trust, honouring our commitments, and ensuring consistency with our Constitution as we address Zimbabwe’s debt challenge,” he said.
Under Dr Adesina’s leadership, the African Development Bank Group has not only facilitated Zimbabwe’s structured engagement with creditors but has also committed to mobilizing concessional financing through the African Development Fund—the Group’s concessional arm— to assist Zimbabwe in clearing its arrears, replicating successful debt resolution models used in Sudan and Somalia.
President Mnangagwa also commended Dr Adesina for his contributions to Zimbabwe’s agricultural transformation, highlighting the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative, which has delivered climate-smart seeds to over 40 million smallholder farmers across 30 African countries. “As an agro-based economy, Zimbabwe has significantly benefited from Dr Adesina’s vision to transform Africa’s rural communities into zones of prosperity,” he noted.
The bank group’s $25 million emergency food production project, launched in July 2022, exemplifies this commitment, having supported over 31,000 farmers—35 percent of whom are women—and expanded food production across 65,000 hectares, with plans to reach 200,000 hectares.
Beyond its agricultural support, the bank has also demonstrated strong commitment to Zimbabwe’s private sector development, providing $55 million in lines of credit during 2023–2024.
Looking ahead, president Mnangagwa called on future generations to uphold the legacy of leaders like Dr Adesina in driving Africa’s development. “Through unity, hard work, innovation, and resilience, we can realize a modern, industrialized Africa that is food and energy-secure, peaceful, and independent.”
A strong believer in Zimbabwe’s strategic importance for Africa and the global community, Dr Adesina has consistently championed the country’s potential and the urgency of resolving its debt challenges. “Zimbabwe is too critical for the world to ignore,” he emphasized in a recent address. “With its vast deposits of critical minerals, including lithium and platinum metals group, Zimbabwe is one of the leading countries that holds the future for global energy transitions.”
“No one, no matter how strong, can run up a hill carrying on their back piles of sand. The $21 billion debt of Zimbabwe, of which the bulk is arrears, has made arrears the new debt stacked like piles of sandbags on the back of Zimbabwe,” Dr Adesina stated in his address at the 6th High-level Structured Dialogue Platform Meeting on Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution for Zimbabwe, underlining the urgent need for resolution.
“It is clearly time to bring this to a close, end the decades of untold damage to the economy of Zimbabwe, the suffering of its people, and have a new beginning with collective hope, aspiration and shared prosperity, for its people, today and well into the future,” Dr Adesina added.
- President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s congratulatory message to African Development Bank Group President (video)(link is external)
- Speech delivered by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina at the High-level Structured Dialogue Platform Meeting on Arrears Clearance and Debt Resolution for Zimbabwe, 25 Nov. 2024
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