FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said office is preparing a database of professional Zimbabweans working outside the country with a view of raising $20 million under a Diaspora bond.
“I want to raise Diaspora bonds and I have taken steps to come up with a database of Zimbabweans employed in the financial sector worldwide.
“If we can raise say $20 million from the bond I can then put that money into a small hydro-project that can produce power and use the money from the matured bond to repay some debts,” said Chinamasa at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) Winter School in Victoria Falls.
Chinamasa said the country was finding it difficult to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) until it settles its debt with multilateral institutions of $10 billion.
Presenting his 2014 national budget last December, Chinamasa signalled plans to raise $8 million through a diaspora bond, for mini hydro-power projects.
Non-resident Zimbabweans, estimated to be around three million, send nearly $2 billion home every year, but largely stay away from government-issued paper.
Previous efforts to raise diasporan debt have fallen flat, although private-led efforts, especially by CBZ Bank, have met with relative success.
In 2011, CBZ raised $42,5 million in a bond issue mostly taken up by non-resident Zimbabweans, before raising nearly $70 million in a 2013 issue.Advertisement