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Zimbabwe secures $950m credit lines from China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-01 11:33

Zimbabwe has secured $950 million in credit lines from China to help rebuild the country's economy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe has appealed to the world for a "financial stimulus package" for its devastated economy, saying lack of foreign support put a recovery plan drawn up by the unity government in peril.

The southern African country says it needs $10 billion to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure and ease a 90 percent unemployment rate.

"The government through the minister of finance, secured credit lines of almost $950 million from China," Tsvangirai said in a news conference.

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Tsvangirai, who shares power with President Robert Mugabe, said a three-week tour he conducted of the United States and Europe had yielded pledges totalling more than $500 million.

"The amount of assistance that was raised on my visit to Europe and the United States does not reflect the enormous support we will be able to utilize if we are to fulfil all our political obligations," he said.

He said other promises of aid would be fulfilled only when Zimbabwe created a democracy and improved human rights after what critics say is Mugabe's repressive rule.

"If we want outside assistance, we must first prove that we are able to fulfil the obligations we have undertaken within the agreement that was brokered by SADC," Tsvangirai said.

"Actions speak louder than words and while I was away there were instances of peaceful protestors being beaten by our police, innocent individuals arrested on trumped up charges and continued vilification of the MDC by the state media."