Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube secures $250m loan

The new Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube has secured a $250 million commercial loan facility from an international finance company, Gemcorp through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

The southern African nation is facing its worst shortages of cash dollars since it dumped its own currency in 2009 in favour of the U.S. currency. This has made it difficult for companies, including mines, to pay for imports.

Gemcorp Group focuses on emerging markets with a special interest in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Gemcorp was formed in 2014 by Atanas Bostandjiev, a former executive of Russian investment bank VTB Capital, part of banking group VTB.

In welcoming the development, Professor Ncube said the “granting of the commercial loan facility by Gemcorp is a strong signal by foreign investors of their growing confidence in Zimbabwe.”

The five-year facility will enable the importation of essential and intermediate goods for Zimbabwe, Gemcorp said a statement released Monday.

RBZ Governor, Dr John Mangudya said “the line of credit is coming at an appropriate time to shore up foreign currency liquidity after the end of the tobacco selling season.”

Gemcorp Group founder and CEO, Atanas Bostandjiev said the facility will finance and coordinate the delivery of essential goods to help support the Zimbabwean economy.

In May this year, Britain’s CDC broke the UK’s lending drought to Zimbabwe with a $100 million credit line to private companies, via Standard Chartered Bank.