Source: US$145m for agric, infrastructure development | The Sunday Mail

Sunday Mail Reporter

The GOVERNMENT has allocated US$145 million to agriculture, infrastructure development and industry revival this year, with funds set to be drawn down from the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocated to the country by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year.

From the funds, US$35 million will be used for the construction of health facilities, while US$10 million will be channelled to construct primary and secondary schools in marginalised areas.

The agriculture sector is set to receive US$50 million, with US$30 million set to be used as an export revolving fund for agriculture, while the remaining funds will be allocated to smallholder farmer irrigation schemes.

Industry is set to receive US$30 million for retooling and setting up a revolving fund for new equipment and restoring value chains in cotton, leather and pharmaceuticals.

The Government will further disburse US$10 million each for housing development and the establishment of gold centres.

In a recent statement, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development said: “The funds will provide a huge stimulus to the economy and will be used prudently, with accountability and transparency to support projects in the following priority areas: investments in social sectors, namely health, education, and the vulnerable groups; productive sectors value chains; infrastructure investments and foreign currency reserves and a contingency fund.

“In 2022, SDR disbursements of US$145 million (equivalent of $18,85 billion) will go towards the social, agriculture, industry and infrastructure sectors.”

In August 2021, Zimbabwe received its SDRs allocation amounting to SDR677,4 million, which is equivalent to US$958 million, from the IMF under the General Allocation of US$650 billion to all the institution’s members.

The allocation was meant to assist countries recover from the economic stress caused by Covid-19.