Gaborone: BOTSWANA has denied reports that it has advanced a staggering U.S$600 million bailout package to Zimbabwe whose economy is teetering on the brinks owing to, among other serious problems, foreign currency shortages.
Reports from Zimbabwe’s State media quoted the Foreign Affairs and Trade ministry secretary Joe Manzou confirming the U.S$500 million package backed by diamonds and a further U.S$100 million bailout to struggling Zimbabwean companies.
“As such, media reports that are currently circulating about the line of credit worth Six Hundred Million United States Dollars that the government of Botswana has committed itself to extend to the Republic of Zimbabwe are unfounded,” said Carter Norupisi, Botswana’s Permanent Secretary to the President and Secretary to Cabinet.
Claims that Gaborone had bailed Zimbabwe were made on Monday during preparatory meetings for the Inaugural Zimbabwe-Botswana Bi-National Commission to be held on Thursday. President Mokgweetsi Masisi is scheduled to attend the BNC.
“We wish to advise members of the public that in accordance with international practice, a communique which summarises the outcome of the meeting will be made following conclusion of the BNC,” Morupisi added.
Zimbabwe is desperate for a bailout package to lift the troubled southern African country’s economy that has been in a tailspin for years.
