IMF can go to hell, says Mugabe

IMF can go to hell, says embattled MugabeBasildon PetaJOHANNESBURG--Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe "does not care" whether his country is expelled from the International Monetary Fund next month.He is also "little bothered" by any decision the global lender's board will take when it meets to review Zimbabwe's position next month, well-placed sources close to the ageing Zimbabwean leader have revealed.His "to hell with the IMF attitude" has consequently stalled progress on South Africa's planned aid package to Zimbabwe, they said.In fact, the sources said Mugabe had refused to meet an IMF mission visiting Zimbabwe, leaving the task of dealing with the team to Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono.
The IMF team is expected to issue an unfavourable report, which would complicate South Africa's willingness to help Zimbabwe.

"The president (Mugabe) has made it clear that Zimbabwe would now follow its own policies, which are not IMF or World Bank prescribed. He would rather focus on that and he simply does not care whatever decision the IMF will make over the debts it is owed," said an official close to Mugabe, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Furthermore, the president does not see the IMF ever agreeing to help Zimbabwe, even if all its so-called arrears and debts are paid."

Zimbabwe's arrears to the IMF total $290-million (about R1,8-billion), while its total debts to the global lender exceed $1-billion.

But Mugabe's attitude fundamentally differs from Murerwa and Gono, whose task of managing the Zimbabwean economy would become impossible if the country was expelled from the IMF.

Most lenders take their cue from the IMF, and Gono and Murerwa are clear that the formal expulsion of Zimbabwe would eliminate their chances of ever raising aid.