https://sputnikglobe.com/20230224/zimbabwe-cuts-payment-period-under-35bn-compensation-deal-with-land-stripped-white-farmers--1107763538.html
Zimbabwe Cuts Payment Period Under $3.5Bn Compensation Deal With Land-Stripped White Farmers
Zimbabwe Cuts Payment Period Under $3.5Bn Compensation Deal With Land-Stripped White Farmers
Sputnik International
Zimbabwe is going to compensate the farmers who were evicted from their land more than two decades ago over a 10-year period instead of the 20-year period indicated earlier, accoding to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.
2023-02-24T10:38+0000
2023-02-24T10:38+0000
2024-01-05T15:11+0000
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Zimbabwe is going to compensate farmers who were evicted from their land more than two decades ago over a 10-year period instead of the 20-year period indicated earlier, the country's Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has announced.The announcement marks the latest amendment to a $3.5 billion compensation deal signed almost three years ago. According to the minister, the government initially planned to offer payment terms of 20 years, but decided to accelerate the deal. He noted that most of the farmers affected by the land expropriation "are not young," and there is a need to speed things up. The compensation payments are expected to be financed through a treasury bond, which will have the status of prescribed-assets and will not be subjected to any form of taxation in order to attract investors. Former farm owners will hold a referendum on the matter, while the bond will be issued as soon as the remaining details are finalized. In 2020, the country agreed to compensate local white farmers whose land was forcibly taken by the government to resettle black families in the period between 2000 and 2001. Meanwhile, foreign citizens who had their land seized were also allowed to apply to get it back.The land reform is considered to be one of the most controversial policies of the Robert Mugabe presidency. Its goal was to redistribute land from white farmers to landless indigenous Zimbabweans in an attempt to shed the country's colonial heritage. Resolving the dispute is now regarded by the government as crucial to tackling the country's protracted economic stagnation, and getting access to international financing.According to the original pact, the farmers should have received 50% of the $3.5 billion within the first year from the day of signing, while the balance should have been paid in four $437.5 million annual installments. However, the government has repeatedly missed the agreed-to payments. The minister delivered his remarks to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting dedicated to the country's debt issues held in the capital Harare. The dispute over compensation to the farmers was one of the issues discussed during the debt talks. Incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the first to speak at the meeting, urged to agree on how to repay the debt, which "weighs heavily" on the country's development efforts. According to World Bank estimates, as of 2021 Zimbabwe had approximately $14 billion in external debt. Since the 2000's, the Southern African country has not been able to secure new financing from multilateral lenders such as the IMF, Paris Club, and African Development Bank due to its arrears. Alongside limited access to credit, the country is experiencing other economic hardships, including hyperinflation, high unemployment, agricultural decline, as well as shortages of basic goods. The difficulties are largely attributed to sanctions imposed against the nation at the beginning of the 21st century by the US and its allies over alleged human rights abuses, the purported "continued intimidation of political opponents and harassment of independent press." Harare vehemently denies the allegations and calls for the lifting of sanctions.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230203/zimbabwe-cuts-policy-rate-as-inflation-falls-1106950279.html
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Zimbabwe Cuts Payment Period Under $3.5Bn Compensation Deal With Land-Stripped White Farmers
10:38 GMT 24.02.2023 (Updated: 15:11 GMT 05.01.2024) In July 2020, the country's government signed a compensation deal with white farmers whose land was expropriated during a land redistribution program that took place in the early 2000s under former President Robert Mugabe. Since then, Zimbabwe has repeatedly missed payment deadlines stipulated by the initial agreement.
Zimbabwe is going to compensate farmers who were evicted from their land more than two decades ago over a 10-year period instead of the 20-year period indicated earlier, the country's Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has announced.
The announcement marks the latest amendment to a $3.5 billion compensation deal signed almost three years ago. According to the minister, the government initially planned to offer payment terms of 20 years, but decided to accelerate the deal. He noted that most of the farmers affected by the land expropriation "are not young," and there is a need to speed things up.
"We should try to pay faster than 10 years [...]. We are moving toward the quick payment of former farm owners as most of them are not young," said Ncube, adding: "We are now front-loading the payments."
The compensation payments are expected to be financed through a treasury bond, which will have the status of prescribed-assets and will not be subjected to any form of taxation in order to attract investors. Former farm owners will hold a referendum on the matter, while the bond will be issued as soon as the remaining details are finalized.
In 2020, the country agreed to compensate local white farmers whose land was forcibly taken by the government to resettle black families in the period between 2000 and 2001. Meanwhile, foreign citizens who had their land seized were also allowed to apply to get it back.
The land reform is considered to be one of the most controversial policies of the Robert Mugabe presidency. Its goal was to redistribute land from white farmers to landless indigenous Zimbabweans
in an attempt to shed the country's colonial heritage. Resolving the dispute is now regarded by the government as crucial to tackling the country's protracted economic stagnation, and getting access to international financing.
According to the original pact, the farmers should have received 50% of the $3.5 billion within the first year from the day of signing, while the balance should have been paid in four $437.5 million annual installments. However, the government has repeatedly missed the agreed-to payments.
The minister delivered his remarks to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting dedicated to the country's debt issues held in the capital Harare. The dispute over compensation to the farmers was one of the issues discussed during the debt talks. Incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the first to speak at the meeting, urged to agree on how to repay the debt, which "weighs heavily" on the country's development efforts.
3 February 2023, 13:04 GMT
According to
World Bank estimates, as of 2021 Zimbabwe had approximately $14 billion in external debt. Since the 2000's, the Southern African country has not been able to secure new financing from multilateral lenders such as the IMF, Paris Club, and African Development Bank due to its arrears. Alongside limited access to credit, the country is experiencing other economic hardships, including hyperinflation, high unemployment, agricultural decline, as well as shortages of basic goods. The difficulties are largely attributed to
sanctions imposed against the nation at the beginning of the 21st century by the US and its allies over alleged human rights abuses, the purported "continued intimidation of political opponents and harassment of independent press." Harare vehemently denies the allegations and calls for the lifting of sanctions.
