PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday met the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) president Admassu Tadesse, and the financial institution made a commitment to arrange lines of credit worth at least $500 million.
TDB, according to State media has also been roped in as the advisory bank for the US$3 billion Batoka power project, which is being jointly developed by Zimbabwe and Zambia at Batoka Gorge along the Zambezi River.
The two neighbouring countries are expected to share the 2 200 megawatts (MW) that will be generated from the project.
President Mnangagwa met Mr Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) is set to attend the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly, which officially opens today.
It was a busy day for President Mnangagwa from morning right into the late hours of the night as he sought lucrative deals that will help turn around the economy.
“TDB is organising lines of credit, especially as a result of our interaction with Belarus around the economy. TDB is coming in as the advisory bank for the Batoka Power
Project and possibly next month, TDB is doing an agreement with the RBZ for $500 million worth of credit lines to Zimbabwe,” Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr George Charamba told journalists after the meeting.
He said TDB, which has assets worth more than $5 billion, was also following up on deals clinched by President Mnangagwa on his recent visit to Belarus.
“The bank is being used by Belarus to follow up on projects agreed following His Excellency’s visit. The President’s day has been so busy because interest in Zimbabwe both as an economic player and investment destination is huge,” added Mr Charamba.
President Mnangagwa was in Belarus last month where he met his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
Harare and Minsk signed deals covering infrastructure development, agriculture science and technology, education and training, among others.
