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World
Bank says allocating funds to Harare sheer waste of resources
ZimOnline
October
12, 2005
http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=10784
JOHANNESBURG
– The World Bank says it may withhold financial aid to crisis-torn
Zimbabwe to "set an example" saying allocating money to
President Robert Mugabe’s government would be a "terrible waste
of funds."
World Bank boss
Paul Wolfowitz said on Tuesday the financial institution would be
allocating funds "very, very carefully, and in the case of
Zimbabwe perhaps not at all.
"My Africa
experts say that with the kind of misgovernment that is taking place
in Zimbabwe, it is not clear that development is possible at all.
"For several
reasons we have to be very careful about corruption and its effects.
We need to set an example. It is a terrible waste of funds if it
is diverted into corruption."
Zimbabwe is
going through a severe economic crisis blamed on Mugabe’s mismanagement.
Inflation has soared to 359.8 percent, one of the highest rates
in the world. Fuel, food and medicines are also in critical short
supply because the country has no hard cash to pay suppliers.
Mugabe denies
mismanaging the country blaming the economic crisis on Western governments
which he says are unhappy over his seizure of white-owned farms
for redistribution to landless blacks five years ago.
The World Bank's
sister institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), withdrew
balance-of-payments support to Zimbabwe six years ago after sharp
differences with Mugabe over fiscal policy and other governance
issues.
The IMF, which
wanted to expel Zimbabwe for non-payment of a US$295 million debt,
spared the axe on the country last month after Mugabe made a surprise
US$120 million payment to the Fund.
Harare has since
made another US$15 million payment to the IMF in a bid to stave
off expulsion. Despite the payment to the Fund, the country continues
to sink deeper into the mire with no solution in sight. - ZimOnline
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