The clearest sign that planning for the post-Mugabe era is under way is the open discussion of abandoning some of his most cherished policies
Zimbabwe is gearing up to introduce major economic changes to facilitate reconciliation with the International Monetary Fund, say sources in the Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). This would help to revive the economy with new investment while rescheduling the vast foreign debt, they add. The Fund, other creditors and the government have arranged to hold a side-meeting during the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, which are being held in Lima, Peru, on 9-11 October.
The move has sharply divided President Robert Mugabe's government and strong opposition to Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who is in charge of the initiative, is building within ZANU- PF. After a visit by an IMF delegation that ended on 9 September, Fund officials and European and other ambassadors have been publicly advising the country that pro-private sector and liberal foreign investment policies are the only path to new multilateral finance and debt-rescheduling. Constructively, say observers in Harare and New York, that means open post-Mugabe planning.
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