IMF team visit for Zimbabwe

[newsroom]

The International Monetary Fund will next week send a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe, the global lender said Friday, as the new unity government tries to secure financing to revive the economy.

The visit will be the first by an IMF team since December 2006, when the southern African country only narrowly avoided expulsion from the organisation.

Since then, the IMF has effectively suspended its dealings with Zimbabwe, but new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that restoring ties with global financial bodies is a priority for turning around the economy.

The IMF staff team will visit from March 9-24, at the invitation of the government, it said in a statement.

The IMF mission will review Zimbabwe's economic situation and prospects and discuss with the authorities their policies to address the acute economic and humanitarian crisis facing the country, the fund said.

"The IMF conducts such discussions, which focus on a country's economic prospects and policies, with all its members on a regular basis," it said.

"IMF staff plan to meet with Finance Minister (Tendai) Biti and other senior officials, as well as representatives of civil society and the financial, business, academic, and diplomatic communities," the Fund said.

"The IMF team will work closely with a parallel World Bank mission."

In September last year, the Fund hailed a power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and the then opposition leader Tsvangirai, saying it stood ready to hold talks with the country's leaders.

The unity accord aims to resolve a year-long political crisis in a country in economic meltdown.

Last week, the southern African finance ministers called on global lenders to support Tsvangirai's rebuilding plan, which the prime minister says will require at least two billion dollars to jump start the economy and revive social services.

The economy has been shattered by world-record hyperinflation that has left the local currency worthless. Unemployment is estimated at 94 percent, while more than half the population depends on food aid for survival.