By Bloomberg

Zimbabwe said it’s on track to meet the economic goals set by the International Monetary Fund under an agreement struck earlier this year.

“We have met all quantitative targets and made significant progress on meeting the structural benchmarks agreed with the IMF under the ongoing Staff Monitored Program,” Innocent Matshe, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said on Thursday.

The program is an informal agreement that involves no financial loans. It could provide a stepping stone for the southern African nation to restore access to international credit markets from which it’s been excluded since 1999, after defaulting on its debts.

The 10-month programme was approved in April, and Zimbabwe passed the first review in July.

“Zimbabwe is going to be successful in this programme,” Matshe told bankers at an event in the capital, Harare. “The strong commitment of the Reserve Bank and the government to sustaining the prevailing price and exchange rate stability is critical.”

An IMF delegation will be in the country from 7-16 September for its final assessment of the SMP.

Zimbabwe last had a staff-monitored IMF program in 2019, which was abandoned after the nation failed to adhere to the lender’s recommendations on its now-defunct Zimbabwean dollar.

It has since taken a series of steps to reengage with international creditors and in 2024 introduced a gold-backed currency called the ZiG, although the US dollar remains in dominant daily use, although Zimbabwe aims to make the ZiG its sole legal tender over time.

Matshe said the transition to a single currency was not “going to happen overnight,” adding that “it will be market driven.”