HARARE — Zimbabwe aims to clear its $2bn arrears with the World Bank and African Development Bank in the next 12 months, after securing the support of international creditors and donor countries, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Friday. Zimbabwe has struggled to access international credit since defaulting on its debts to global lenders two decades ago and running up arrears of nearly $6bn. Ncube said in an interview the arrears clearance programme had the backing of the US government, which maintains sanctions against Zimbabwe. Ncube met international lenders as well as representatives of the US and British governments in Bali, Indonesia, last week on the sidelines of the annual Internal Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. “My intention is that by this time next year we would have paid off the AfDB and World Bank. All options are on the table, including the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) option debt write-off, or the HIPC-lite or the ad-hoc solutions, with sponsors,” N...
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