Published: 25 March 2014

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to re-open its local office later this year, a decade after its closure, signalling the warming of relations between the global lender and Zimbabwe.

IMF deputy director for Africa, Roger Nord said the re-opening of the office would give the global lender a continuous presence to help in the supervised economic reform plan, the Staff Monitored Programme (SMP).

He said the IMF had a Staff Monitored Programme with Zimbabwe that was supposed to end in December but was extended by six months to June.

Nord said the processes towards reopening the office would take a couple of months but was optimistic this would be complete in the summer.

The process includes, among others, the recruitment of local staff.

IMF closed its Harare representative office in October 2004.

The resident representative had left a year earlier, leaving local staffers to man the office.
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