The International Monetary Fund has ruled out providing financial assistance to Zimbabwe, following a staff mission to the country.

The mission’s leader, Dhaneshwar Ghura, said the IMF was “precluded from providing financial support to Zimbabwe due to unsustainable debt and official external arrears”. The IMF urged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to continue raising rates and to liberalise the foreign-exchange market.

In a September 19 statement, Ghura called on Zimbabwean authorities to