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| Zimbabwe to get $500m IMF loans | Zimbabwe to get $500m IMF loans |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The International Monetary Fund is making loans available to Zimbabwe for the first time in a decade, the BBC has learnt. | |
| The $500m (£305m) will be used to replenish Zimbabwe's dwindling foreign currency reserves. | |
| The money has been released on the condition that Zimbabwe's finance minister ensures the money is not diverted to other projects. | |
| Zimbabwe is in dire need of aid to rebuild its battered economy. | |
| The way in which the deal has been received is exposing further divisions in the fragile unity government. | |
| The former opposition MDC has been criticised by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party for not doing enough to secure donor funding for the country. | |
| It has also accused Zanu PF of continued human rights abuses. | |
| Signal | |
| The loans send a clear signal that unlike claims made by the central bank Governor Gideon Gono that the Zimbabwean dollar will soon be restored, the US dollar will remain the official currency. | |
| According to Zimbabwe's state newspaper The Herald, Dr Gono has invited finance minister Tendi Biti - a member of the former opposition MDC - to discuss how the funds will be used. | |
| But sources have told the BBC that the IMF only released the money on condition that Zimbabwe's finance minister ensures the money is used to replenish foreign exchange reserves and not used for other projects. | |
| Zimbabwe's financial woes in the past have been partially blamed on gross mismanagement of its central bank funds. |