IMFSDR US$857 million mostly spent on food securit...

IMFSDR US$857 million mostly spent on food security, health, education and agriculture

Zim Now Wrier

Zimbabwe has made use of US$857 million from the US$961 million allocated under the Special Drawing Rights by the International Monetary Fund.

A 2022 Annual Public Debt Bulletin released Friday by Treasury shows that between September 2021 and February 2023, the government made six drawdowns of the SDRs amounting to US$857 million.

Social safety nets constitute the biggest share at over US$420 million, with most of the resources being allocated towards food security, education and health.

The agriculture sector, riding on a bumper harvest for wheat, tobacco, and maize, utilised US$231 million on irrigation, dam construction projects, livestock production and the establishment of an export revolving facility for horticulture among others.

Massive infrastructure development projects have also seen projects such as the Harare-Beitbridge Road being allocated SDRs to the tune of more than US$116 million.

The manufacturing sector has also benefitted from the SDRs after getting US$22 million for retooling and imports of modern equipment and machinery.

Over US$10 million has also been utilised in the mining sector, where small-scale gold miners have benefited from a loan scheme at concessionary interest rates.

A rescue package for the tourism and hospitality sector has seen the treasury utilising over US$7 million in the recovery of the sector.

National housing is also a top priority for Zimbabwe, with Treasury statistics confirming that US$10 million has been devoted to the sector.