Gono: 'Zimbabwe cannot go it alone'

Gono: 'Zimbabwe cannot go it alone'

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE cannot "go it alone" and must rebuild its ties with the international community to achieve a sustained economic turnaround, central bank governor Gideon Gono said on Tuesday.

In a prepared monetary policy statement, Gono also said that the southern African country would continue to repay its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite what he described as "mixed reactions" among stakeholders in the country.

"This national sacrifice, painful as it is ... is an indispensable pill that ... we have to take so as to avert the far-reaching adverse effects of being alienated from the community of nations in the financial world," he said.

"As Zimbabwe, we cannot go it alone, and it is imperative that we seek to work with other international business partners, particularly those that see the virtues and sincerity of our efforts and wish us well," he said.

Once the breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by a third after 6 years of recession, with unemployment estimated at 70 percent, inflation in triple digits and chronic shortages of fuel and food.

Gono also launched a bold attack on graft, saying that corruption, especially among influential officials, threatened to derail economic recovery efforts.

"The rot is just so widespread and deep-rooted one doesn't know where to start from and stop, but start we must, urgently," Gono said.

President Robert Mugabe launched an anti-graft campaign in 2004 which critics said was an attempt to divert attention from the country's deepening economic crisis as it left out officials from his ruling Zanu PF party.

The graft-busting drive led to the arrest of mostly senior bank executives and the subsequent closure of some financial institutions which the central bank said were not in a sound financial position. Most executives have since fled the country.

"If ... we do not resolutely stamp-out growing corruption, especially among us people in positions of authority and influence ... we will soon discover, too late, that policy formulations, implementation and decisions have been based on self-interest, racial overtones, regional and tribal considerations at the expense of national good," he said.

Former Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri was the highest ranking official to be arrested and is on trial for illegally taking money outside the country -- a deal which Gono sanctioned during his tenure as head of a local commercial bank.

"Our observation as Monetary Authorities is that we are, as Zimbabweans, fast losing our integrity and sense of economic justice and fairness as a people, right across the board," Gono said on Tuesday.

He hailed the setting up of an anti-corruption body last year, adding that the central bank would be collaborating with the commission.

The Reserve Bank had declared an amnesty for people who had "erred and strayed economically in the past", he said, urging the government to do likewise. But Gono said cases before the courts would not be withdrawn.

"We believe that time has come to give back confidence to our people, to decriminalize them, give them self worth, self-respect and greater economic space and freedom," he said -- Reuters
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