(NEWZIMBABWE) Mugabe blasts Biti over economy

COMMENT - The MDC is sabotaging Zimbabwean agriculture, by not paying the farmers for goods delivered to the Grain Marketing Board. They are a regime change operation, nothing more. Tendai Biti is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in Special Drawing Rights from the IMF, and he will not pay the farmers for the goods they have delivered to the GMB. I hope everyone now understands the nature of the MDC, and the games they are playing.

Mugabe blasts Biti over economy
19/02/2012 00:00:00
by Business Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has slammed Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s stewardship of the economy claiming he was slowing down recovery by making questionable decisions. Zimbabwe is emerging from a decade-long recession and has recorded positive growth since the coalition government was formed in 2009. Biti has projected more than 9 percent growth this year But Mugabe said treasury was worsening the impact of sanctions imposed by the West through poor decision making.

The Zanu PF leader was particularly critical of Biti’s use of a US$500 million Special Drawing Rights facility made available to the country in 2009 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“You have the Minister of Finance and you give the Minister of Finance some autonomy. He makes some decisions and those decisions are not always of a nature that is promotive, economically,” Mugabe said in an interview with the Sunday Mail.

"You take the fact that, for example, we had over US$500 million in SDRs. He just sat on them.

“Instead of using that money to bolster up the economy, inject it into companies that needed finance for raw materials or spare parts so that they could be more productive, he just sat on them."

Biti withdrew US$50 million from the facility in December 2009 and another US$100 million in February 2010.

Last month treasury withdrew another US$110 million to help ease a biting cash crisis but Biti warned that the country should resist using-up the facility arguing this would only worsen already unsustainable debt levels.

"Our sovereign debt is $9.1 billion. It is not wise to further contract any sovereign debt," he said.

[Zimbabwe's sovereign debt is $9.1 billion, which in no small part is based on the fact that through the Section 4C of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, the US directors at International Financial Institutions have vetoed the rescheduling of debt, for a decade. Quote:

the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against--

(1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or

(2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.

No rescheduling of debt for a decade, courtesy of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Russ Feingold, Jesse Helms, and sponsor Bill Frist. Of course, HIPC wipes out all those debts, in exchange for 10 or 20 times the debt's value in natural resource deposits, like the 20% of known global diamond deposits that Zimbabwe owns. - MrK]

But Mugabe said the facility should instead be used to support the country’s productive sectors.

"He (Biti) said (the fund was) for balance of payment, but balance of payment is the battle between exports and imports.

“If imports dominate exports, then you are in trouble and you do not hope that by using SDRs you are curing the problem; the deficit in an effective way, no.

"Inject what money you have into production. Boost your exports and then you are taking care of your imports. You can do both, of course, if you are able to."

Mugabe also said he wanted to see treasury providing more support for the country’s key agricultural sector.

"Farmers are always ready, raring to go. But we fail them. They do not have inputs, even where they have the money,” he said.

“Just imagine - they could not get fertiliser for two reasons: fertiliser was scarce and where it was available, they did not have money to purchase it. Why? Because their money was locked up in deliveries of maize and wheat that have not been paid for by the Minister of Finance.

[And that's economic sabotage. The first thing the shameful MDC and their ever balooning stooge Tendai Biti should do, is pay the farmers for the products they delivered to the GMB, not make them go bankrupt so they can say that 'land reform failed'. Landreform can only fail if it is made to fail. Made to fail by the MDC. - MrK]

"You have maize that was grown last year that was (only) paid for partially. All the wheat of last year has not been paid for. We do not proceed like that in Zanu PF."