EU News Digest Latest News & Updates
Reuters | Hannah McKay
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (2nd R), his Zimbabwean counterpart Sibusiso Moyo (R) and other politicians pose at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, U.K., on April 20, 2018.
Mnangagwa has promised a free and fair election in Zimbabwe in July, and has said that he will invite international observers to the event. Johnson described the expected vote as a “bellwether for the direction of a new Zimbabwe.”
Re-engagement with the Commonwealth “will pressure Mnangagwa to implement reforms, which in turn will help to convince potential funders, such as the Paris Club donors and multilateral lenders such as the IMF, to approve new financing,” William Attwell, practice leader for sub-Saharan Africa at research firm Frontier Strategy Group, told CNBC via email.
“Zimbabwe will also benefit from Commonwealth-linked development programs, for instance on youth skills development” and “use its membership as a platform to forge trade linkages with some of the world’s fastest-growing economies such as India,” he added.
The U.K. is currently providing £91 million in aid to Zimbabwe for the 2017/18 financial year, including an additional £5 million announced in February to support free and fair elections in the country.
