Trafigura and IPG give Zimbabwe more time to pay for fuel
The cash-strapped country will now be able to prioritise allocation of scarce dollars to strategic areas
Zimbabwe has reached flexible payment arrangements with some fuel importers that will ensure it stabilises supplies amid a foreign-currency shortage that threatens economic growth. The government has struck a deal with a unit of Trafigura Beheer and Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait to extend payment periods for fuel supplies to as many as six months from 30 days, energy minister Joram Gumbo said. This enables the government to prioritise allocation of scarce US dollars to strategic areas, he said. “We expect the situation to stabilise, but it can’t be overnight,” he said on Friday. A myriad of economic challenges characterised by shortages of foreign currency, wheat and hospital drugs threatens to derail President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s plans to reverse the country’s two-decade economic crisis triggered by his long-time ally and predecessor, Robert Mugabe. A crippling shortage of dollars, which the nation adopted as its main official currency in 2009, is forcing motorists to queu...
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