AfDB to offer technical assistance to the RBZ

Published: 28 November 2013

The Africa development bank in their 2013-2015 Country brief report highlighted that it will support the rehabilitation, maintenance and development of the Reserve Bank's IT system.

"The Reserve Bank is heavily indebted and suffers from dilapidated and outdated IT equipment. Also, for it to realise its vision for 2020, a banking sector that is vibrant, viable, strong and stable enough to anchor sustained economic growth and development requires, among others, information systems that are sufficiently robust and up-to-date to accommodate a growing financial sector" said the report.

The bank will also continue to assist the country in terms of knowledge and support for analytical products.

One of the ways in which the bank will assist in is, by conducting a comprehensive study on improving the business environment in Zimbabwe as per request of the Government. This study will recommend areas of reform and provide viable solutions to improve the business climate, job creation and social inclusion.

However on the downside the report emphasized the inability of the bank to conduct infrastructure development in Zimbabwe because of the arrears situation. However, at the request of Government the Bank will continue to manage the ZimFund, which focuses on rehabilitation and the development of projects in the water and energy sectors. In as much as the country needs finical assistance, the need for the technical and specialized expertise to implement the country's economic objectives should not be ignored.

This is vital because when the much needed financial support is awarded to the country, if as a country we lack the relevant skills to efficiently and effectively allocate the resources then the inflow of the funds will fail to achieve their objectives.

It is just like giving a car to a person who cannot drive, the person will continue to walk until they learn how to drive.

So as a country it is important that we also deal with the technical capacity in line with the drive to attract funding. This will boost investor confidence and improve the business environment that will attract investment and funding.
- BH24