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Zambian
official says Zimbabwe unrest not disruptive to economy
Associated
Press
April 14, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/14/business/NA-FIN-ECO-Zambia.php
WASHINGTON: Zambia's
finance minister said Saturday that his country has become an oasis
of stability in southern Africa and has not been greatly harmed
by unrest in neighboring Zimbabwe.
Despite the disruption
to trade, Zambia has seen significant benefits from Zimbabwe's troubles,
Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande said at a briefing during this
weekend's meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund.
"When your neighbor
has a party, you hear the noise, when they have a funeral you hear
the wailing," he said. "But it has not been too disruptive."
He cited a boom in Zambian
tourism, as visitors to Victoria Falls on the country's border with
Zimbabwe have been flocking to the Zambian side to avoid unrest.
He said that many white
farmers, whose lands had been confiscated by the government in Zimbabwe,
have resettled in Zambia and bolstered the agricultural sector with
high skill levels.
Zambia, like other surrounding
countries, has seen an influx of Zimbabweans fleeing political repression,
chronic shortages of basic supplies, high unemployment and inflation
of more than 1,600 percent.
The penniless Zimbabweans
have been blamed for an upsurge in crime and prostitution, with
Zambian police recently rounding up some 500 Zimbabwean women from
the streets of the capital Lusaka and sending them home. The country
has broken ranks with the other neighbors and criticized Zimbabwe.
Magande said
that Zambia has turned its own economy around by eliminating a huge
debt load of over $7 billion (€5.2 billion) over the last two
years. International donors have cheered the country's budgetary
improvements as well as its implementation of free-trade and anti-corruption
policies.
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