http://iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20050511071423957C5
94842
Zimbabwe secures loan from SA bank
By Basildon Peta
Johannesburg - South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) has emerged as the
knight in shining armour for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime in
its battle against fuel and food shortages.
A major Zimbabwean bank has announced that it has secured a $15-million
(about R91-million) loan from FNB to finance fuel purchases.
The deal - announced in state media in Harare by Nyasha Makuvise, the
managing director of the Jewel Bank, in which the Zimbabwe government is a
shareholder - comes as the Mugabe regime has resorted to raiding hotels and
lodges in a desperate attempt to raise foreign currency.
Makuvise told the state-owned Herald newspaper that the $15-million "loan
facility" had already come into effect and a total of 34 million litres of
fuel would be imported under the deal.
'FNB is facilitating payments for fuel on a no-risk basis on behalf of a
Zimbabwean bank'
"It is a revolving facility and we are happy to be playing our part as a
bank to assist (Zimbabwe) overcome this challenge," Makuvise said.
Asked to comment on his bank's rescue package for Zimbabwe, FNB spokesperson
Louis Jordaan, the CEO of the bank's international banking division, said in
a carefully worded statement: "FNB has correspondent banking relationships
with banks located throughout the world. Furthermore, FNB provides rand
account and international banking services to a large number of
international banks, some of which are located in Africa, and more
specifically in Zimbabwe.
"These accounts and services enable banks to facilitate payments between
exporters and importers of goods and services in South Africa and other
countries. . . .
"In this instance, FNB is facilitating payments for fuel on a no-risk basis
on behalf of a Zimbabwean bank . . . These transactions do not take the form
of unsecured loans as payments are secured to FNB by means of various risk
mitigation methods."
The statement did not elaborate on the risk mitigating methods in this deal.
As the foreign currency shortage bites harder, officers from the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) investigations unit have been reportedly raiding
hoteliers for spot checks on their foreign currency earnings, which they
have to forward to the central bank as required by law.
The hoteliers are accused of not repatriating foreign currency earned during
the March elections when more than 7 000 observers and journalists booked
into hotels and lodges to observe the controversial poll.
* This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on May
11, 2005
Mercury new
Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-05-11 07:14:00
C Independent Online 2004. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article
in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on
the information it contains.
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