eBusiness Weekly
Tinashe Makichi
Zimbabwe needs to clear bilateral arrears with Japan if it is to access its $30 billion fund for Africa. In 2016, Japan availed a $30 billion fund to be used until 2019 in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and healthcare expansion in Africa.
Without mentioning the amount owed to Japan by Zimbabwe, its Ambassador to the country Toshiyuki Iwado, said Zimbabwe like any other African country, should benefit from the fund but it should settle its bilateral arrears first.
“The $30 billion Japan funding for Africa is going to benefit a lot of countries. In fact some have already started benefitting. It is quite critical that Zimbabwe taps into such funds to start infrastructure projects among others.
“The biggest challenge at the moment, is that Zimbabwe has to settle its bilateral arrears with Japan first. That does not mean Zimbabwe will not get grants, the support will continue but tapping into the $30 billion fund will make a difference,” said Ambassador Iwado.
Tapping into the fund was not easy. Ambassador Iwado said countries would need to compete to get a chunk and only the “stronger players get to benefit.”
The $30 billion is in addition to the $32 billion that Japan pledged to Africa over a five-year period at the last TICAD meeting in 2013, where 67 percent of that had already been put to use in various projects.
Japan’s overall direct investment in Africa totaled $1,24 billion in 2015, down from about $1,5 billion a year earlier, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation. In comparison, rival China made a single investment of $2 billion in Equatorial Guinea in 2015.
Ambassador Iwado said Japanese investors are interested in investing in the country, but there are concerns which are yet to be addressed.
“At the top of their worries are concerns about the legal protection of their assets and also failure to repatriate dividends due to lack of foreign currency. They want that addressed but the bottom line is they are willing to invest in Zimbabwe.”
Relations between Japan and Zimbabwe have improved significantly following a visit by President Robert Mugabe to Japan where he met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
In a joint statement the two leaders agreed to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and Japan pledged to continue supporting Zimbabwe’s development efforts.
