Zimbabwe has agreed to a staff-monitored programme with the International Monetary Fund, a senior government official said on Friday, marking a cautious step toward deeper engagement with the lender and a possible future loan programme, Reuters reported.
A staff-monitored programme is an informal arrangement under which IMF staff assess a country’s economic policies and reforms.
While it does not include financial support, it can help pave the way for future funding, revive stalled programmes, or enable renewed access to emergency assistance.
George Guvamatanga, a senior official at Zimbabwe’s Finance Ministry, told Reuters that authorities are targeting a 10-month programme set to begin next month, “if all processes can be completed in time”.
“The programme is to consolidate current fiscal and monetary policy reforms,” he said. An SMP does not involve IMF financing or approval by the Fund’s Executive Board.
“The SMP is intended to establish a credible track record that supports the authorities’ re-engagement efforts and complements their broader strategy toward arrears clearance and debt restructuring, including eventual access to external concessional financing,” IMF mission chief Wojciech Maliszewski said in a statement.
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Zimbabwe has struggled for decades with hyperinflation, currency instability, and reliance on informal dollarised markets.
The country has entered staff-monitored programmes before, most recently in May 2019, but that effort collapsed after authorities failed to comply with IMF recommendations.
The Finance Ministry has recently highlighted signs of improvement in the macroeconomic environment. In January, it said inflation in the domestic currency had slowed sharply, with annual price growth easing to 4.1% at the start of the year, while U.S. dollar inflation fell to 1% year-on-year.
Official data also showed that by December 2025 the government had built up $1.2 billion in foreign asset reserves to support the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency, which was launched in 2024 as part of efforts to restore monetary stability.
However, Zimbabwe still needs to clear its external arrears to unlock fresh funding from international partners. The country has been accumulating arrears to official creditors since the early 2000s. An IMF report published in October estimated those arrears at $7.4 billion.
The IMF has said it cannot approve a funded programme for Zimbabwe until the arrears are cleared, noting that its support typically acts as a foundation for financing from institutions such as the World Bank.
Kepler-Karst Law Firm, which advises Zimbabwe, said the staff-monitored programme agreement is aimed at strengthening macroeconomic stability and building a credible record of policy reforms.
“This agreement serves as a critical step toward arrears clearance and debt resolution,” the firm said in a statement.
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Image Credit: Reuters
