THE ZIMBABWE Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) has expressed doubts over the US$13,7 billion government’s external debt announced by Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube in his 2022 national budget.
Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Business at a post-budget analysis breakfast meeting this week, the ZIMCODD senior programs officer, Eustinah Tarisayi expressed suspicion saying the declared quantum of debt could be much lesser than the actual.
“I strongly feel that the US$13,7 billion debt we are being told of is what we really owe due to lack of transparency in the whole debt issue. As ZIMCODD, we have always called for a debt audit. We really need audited debt transparency,” she said.
“Feedback coming from the 2022 budget analysis shows citizens are not happy with the outcomes. As ZIMCODD, we will continue engaging Parliament and brief them on issues which came out of this meeting.”
Tarisayi said citizens were also not aware where the debt accumulating from, and there was lack of transparency as some loans are signed with no parliamentary oversight.
“Citizens do not know where this debt is coming from. There is lack of transparency, and there are no details as to who benefitted from this amount. So, instead of coming up with strategies to resolve the debt crisis, we are in a worse situation.”
“The citizens generally do not know where these figures are coming from and how the money is being used but we just wake up with a huge debt.”