The African Development Bank (AFDB) president said on Monday that the AFDB has devised financial instruments to “fast track and front load” $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land had been taken by the Zimbabwean government.
According to an email written to members last week by the director of the Commercial Farmers Union, former farmers rejected an early arrangement to receive payment in treasury bills over a 10-year period. As a consequence, Akinwumi Adesina made a statement that did not provide specifics about the planned instruments.
In one of the most divisive projects of the Robert Mugabe era, the Zimbabwean government decided in 2020 to compensate local white farmers whose property was confiscated by the government in 2000 to move Black people. Meanwhile, foreign white farmers were allowed to apply for the return of stolen land.
We should move these monies as soon as possible. Adesina told creditors and the press in Harare that additional delays would destroy trust.
Adesina has previously said that the AfDB president is co-chairing a process to discharge $6 billion in foreign loan arrears. Adesina argued that the current approach to former white farmers will “help leverage capital markets to fund compensation without adding debt to Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe owed more than $14 billion to international creditors as of September 2022 and had been unable to borrow money from organizations like the International Monetary Fund for more than two decades.
Zimbabwe is in default on 91% of its international debt and 61% of its bilateral debt, according to Adesina.
The government “takes full ownership of the debt process and the implementation of reforms,” said Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube during a press conference.
