China has said that Zimbabwe has been understating its financial help to the southern African nation.
Zimbabwe’s recently released budget figures ranked China poorly when it comes to foreign countries supporting it.
The country’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a budget statement last week that the country received $194m from bilateral donors between January and September this year.
Out of that figure Ncube said China provided $3.6m, a figure that was considered meager due to the publicized relations between China and Zimbabwe.
But the Chinese embassy in Harare has disputed the figure, saying in a statement: “This is very different from the situation on the ground.”
The embassy said its records showed that bilateral financial support to Zimbabwe was far greater, at $136.8m between January and September.
That figure according to the embassy excluded donations to vulnerable groups.
“The embassy wishes that the relevant departments of the Zimbabwean government will make comprehensive assessments on the statistics of bilateral supports and accurately reflect its actual situation when formulating budget statement,” the embassy said in a terse statement.
Zimbabwe’s economy is currently in crisis and the country depends heavily on donors for funds.
Source: Africafeeds.com
