Zimbabwe Loses A Staggering USD 1 Bn To Corruption Every Year

“Zimbabwe loses more than USD 1 Bn to corruption every year, that’s huge compared to the size of Zimbabwe’s entire economy,” United States of America’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols has said.

Nicols says the reason behind Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is corruption, economic mismanagement among other key reasons.

The ambassador vehemently disagreed with the President Emmerson Mnangagwa-led government in the notion that sanctions are what is holding back Zimbabwe from an economic recovery.

The Southern African country is currently pushing for the removal of these restrictive measures.

Earlier this week, the government declared Friday, 25th October as a public holiday as the nation protests for the removal of sanctions imposed by the United States.

It was in 2002 when Robert Mugabe when the resource-rich country was put under sanctions by the US and the EU. They placed the sanctions over alleged human rights violations which the US Says has not improved.

Regarding this, Nicols said, ” Blaming sanctions is a convenient scapegoat to distract the public from the real reasons behind Zimbabwe’s economic challenges; corruption, economic mismanagement, and failure to respect human rights and uphold the rule of law.”

He added that the deterrent to investing in Zimbabwe by American investors is “by the massive levels of corruption, economic uncertainty, and weak rule of law.”

While President Mnangagwa blames the sanctions for crippling development in the country, the US says the sanctions are not aimed against the Zim government neither do they affect the economy of Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa believes by abolishing the sanctions, Zimbabwe will start having investors following two decades of isolation.

Zimbabwe currently faces one of its worst economic crises fueled with the rising cost of living, lack of foreign currencies, severe fuel shortages, lack of medical supplies among many other challenges.

The optimism for a better Zimbabwe as promised by President Emmerson Mnangagwa while he was taking over power is slowly fading as there is little indication of economic recovery.

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