Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Finance Minister Tendai Biti today presents the 2010 National Budget in parliament amidst high expectations, low productivity and an absence of meaningful investment by locals as well as foreigners into Zimbabwe. He claims his budget is going to be a developmental one, saying the previous one was a "stabilisation budget". Harare, Zimbabwe, 02 December 2009 Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, today presents his 2010 National Budget, which he claims is going to be a developmental budget. This is the budget in which he will announce what will happen to the US$510 million from the International Monetary Fund. US$50 million of it has already been released for the 2009/2010 agricultural season. With no income to talk about coming in, Zimbabwe will be looking to the money from the IMF to kickstart its moribund economy, which is still reeling under a 90% unemployment rate, industrial production of less than 30% and a severe liquidity problem with very few US dollars in circ...

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Biti has now asked the IMF to urgently release US$50 million to fund requirements for the 2009/2010 agricultural season, basically caving in to pressure from Mugabe's ZANU PF. It is also an indication that Zimbabwe is in big trouble, because the season (which informs the April 2010 harvest) has already advanced so far that the money will not make a difference at all. Biti has also outline how he wants the rest of the US$510 million from the IMF to be used and this is basically the same plan as presented by Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank and Biti's nemesis. Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 November 2009 Zimbabwe's Finance Minister has given in to pressure from ZANU PF and instructed the International Monetary Fund to "urgently" release US$50 million of the US$500 million allocated to Zimbabwe a couple of months back to help the country withstand the global economic slump. In addition to the "urgent" disbursement, Biti has a...

His Excellency, the Other President of The Republic of Zimbabwe, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, is seen here addressing parliament. ZANU PF is now trying to find ways to implement the wide powers Mugabe has secretly given to Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank. The latest effort, though, is clumsy, relying as it does on a redundant Reserve Bank Act. Biti appears unfazed by all this noise Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 October 2009 We have, yet again, been proved right. This time, it is the Gideon Gono and Reserve Bank versus Tendai Biti saga. As I told you last month, Mugabe has secretly bolstered Gideon Gono's powers to be almost on par with those of Tendai Biti, the Minister of Finance and MDC Secretary-General. It is the implementation of these powers that is proving a prickly pear. Hence the resort to legalistic contortions. Today, ZANU PF, through the state media, is attempting revisionism at its most ridiculous. They now claim that the Reserve Bank Act give Gideon Gono and not Ten...

Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 September 2009 With apologies to Oscar Wilde, we can call this latest development "The Importance of Being Tendai Biti". The Reserve Bank was literally in tears yesterday as it told State media that Gideon Gono has "appealed" to the Principals in the Zimbabwe government for them to help unlock the US$510 million that was deposited by the IMF into the Reserve Bank account on 26th August this year. The money, on which Gideon Gono had already started issuing orders to the IMF, was frozen in that account on the orders of Tendai Biti. He says, in so doing, he has blocked certain elements from abusing the money. Munyaradzi Kereke, a senior RBZ official who spoke to the state media (on Gono's behalf, it was said), said his boss had asked the Principals to "urgently intervene and unlock the US$510 because not doing so will have serious effects on the economy." Biti promptly responded yesterday by saying that his statement from last week st...

Public opinion in Zimbabwe is already being prepared for an unprecedented attack on Finance Minister Tendai Biti (seen above with Mugabe on the day he was sworn in). The humiliation of the Minister of Finance will start perhaps as early as Tuesday, at cabinet, and after Mugabe meets with Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday to demand the firing of the Finance Minister for breaching cabinet protocol by taking "unilateral decisions" on a matter ZANU PF is insisting should have been debated in cabinet and a government position adopted. Gideon Gono is now set to become the de facto Minister of Finance for ZANU PF, given widespread powers by Mugabe's special decrees, which will most likely be secret ones. Mugabe's modus operandi is to spring surprises, have Gono make announcements or decisions that present a de facto position to the Minister of Finance. When Biti asks about the de facto announcements, he will be told by Gono that he (Gono) has authority from the president to do wha...

Gideon Gono came out fighting this weekend, rubbing it in to Tendai Biti by insisting that he, as the Reserve Bank (above) Governor, is not only the "custodian" but also the "disburser" of the funds. He is signalling that the money will remain in his control and he will be the one in charge of giving it out and how it is given out. Government is relegated to the role of simply identifying "areas" of priority. With the fighting currently going on and Mugabe's continued choke hold on the country, it is as good as done as the MDC ministries, much as they may make noise, will certainly have no impact. Harare, Zimbabwe, 06 September 2009 Gideon Gono, the Governor of Zimbabwe's Central Bank, i in fighting mood this weekend. Provocatively, Gono told the media yesterday that he as the Reserve Bank Governor, is "custodian and disburser" of that US$400 million from the International Monetary Fund. He said that his "principals" would decid...

Tendai Biti was unaware of the transfer of funds from the IMF to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe this week. He was only told of it after independent newspapers started sniffing around, calling Gideon Gono to confirm the story. The papers also spoke to the Finance Ministry who were in the dark about all this. And now it is also being alleged that some of teh money had already been "disbursed" and that this is on "the president's orders". Harare, Zimbabwe, 06 September 2009 It now emerges that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and Gideon Gono kept quiet about the US$400 million from the IMF for four days, not telling any of the MDC ministers, including Tendai Biti, that the money had been deposited into the Reserve Bank account. At the same time, it is also being alleged that some of the money has already been "disbursed" on the "president's authority". Gono was only forced to admit to the fact that he already had the money after the IMF ...