Zim mine royalties put into new fund

ZIMBABWE’S Treasury is to put a quarter of the country’s mining royalties into a new sovereign wealth fund, which will be managed by the central bank. Several oil-rich African countries such as Algeria and Nigeria have sovereign wealth funds. Zimbabwe is desperate to renew its infrastructure, which includes electricity-generating plants, roads, rail and water treatment facilities neglected for the last 20 years. According to new laws signed by President Robert Mugabe this week, and seen by online financial publishers, The Source, every withdrawal from the fund must be approved by parliament and be accounted for, and proceeds from the fund may not be used as collateral for credit to government and public enterprises. Zimbabwe has $10 billion (R112bn) of foreign debt and little hope of borrowing from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and African Development Bank until it pays back existing loans. – Peta Thornycroft, Independent Foreign Service