Zimbabwe unveiled nearly half a billion dollars worth of mainly foreign loans on Wednesday which the central bank said would help rescue the country's struggling economy, including a $200 million facility from China.
"In unveiling these initiatives, all in all amounting to $490 million, it is the Reserve Bank's minimum expectation that all economic players can now take up the challenge and get on with progressive economic enterprise," central bank Governor Gideon Gono told reporters.
Most of the loans would be directed at the country's agricultural sector, which has been hit hard by drought and President Robert Mugabe's backing for the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for landless blacks.
The Chinese facility announced on Tuesday would be the first major foreign loan extended to the southern African country after 6 years of recession, during which the economy contracted by a third and inflation soared to more than 1,000 percent.
Mugabe's government has embarked on a "look-east" policy to strengthen economic and political relations with Asian and Muslim countries after strained relations with the West, who accuses the veteran leader of rigging recent elections.
International donors, including the International Monetary Fund, have stopped lending to Zimbabwe over policy differences, including the land seizures.
"A lot more is in the offing ... I am abundantly positive about the future of this country," Gono said, adding that the Chinese loan was a culmination of a visit by Vice President Joyce Mujuru to the Asian country in June.
Analysts said the influx of cash would help but was unlikely to address underlying fundamental problems in the country's economy, now grappling with shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food, unemployment above 70 percent and deepening poverty.
The loan package unveiled by Gono included a $35 million facility to import 120,000 tonnes of wheat from an international bank based in Zimbabwe and a $25 million loan to import fuel through a local bank and a South African company. It also included $65 million of credits from African based development banks on the continent. Some of the money has already been received while more was on the way, Gono said.
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