Global South Pole

Beyond Sanctions: Zimbabwe Eyes BRICS Bank

The New Development Bank is a BRICS financial institution that finances infrastructure development, economic expansion, and empowerment. As Zimbabwe considers membership, our guest on Global South Pole, a member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's monetary policy committee, shared insights into his country's aspirations.
Sputnik
Zimbabwe would benefit from joining the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), which could help it renew its aspirations of accessing international capital as it seeks to rebuild its economy, Persistence Gwanyanya, an economist and a member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe monetary policy committee, said. The countries that make up the NDB are economically and financially strong, and it is therefore well advised for Zimbabwe to associate with such countries, he stressed.

"What Zimbabwe seeks today is to climb the value chain to transform the economy from a resource-based economy through widening the manufacturing base and the manufacturing sector into an industrialization-driven economy, which is what all these countries have gone through. So we have got a lot of catch-up to do, and we need friendly countries to deal with," Mr. Gwanyanya noted.

He further explained that Zimbabwe, despite being in a different economic position compared to other countries in the region, has made significant progress, given that Zimbabwe does not receive support from the international financial institutions due to sanctions imposed on the country.

"We have been funding our growth and our infrastructure mainly on our own, on domestic resources, because of this limited access to international capital. Now, the BRICS Development Bank presents an efficient opportunity to address our circumstances the challenges that we face," he stressed.

Mr. Gwanyanya believes that Zimbabwe has forged ahead despite the US being a "thorn in the flesh." Washington's Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act sanctions have been in place for decades. The US has recently amended the package, despite calls for the sanctions to be lifted altogether.

"Even our peers in Africa have condemned these sanctions as harming the ordinary person in the country and contributing to the economic malaise that the country is facing. In whatever form and whatever degree of sanctions, they are condemned in Zimbabwe," the economist noted.

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