Between 2020 and 2024, before the U.S. removed its executive order sanctions which expressly prohibited any financial institution from lending Zimbabwe any money without license from the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. allowed:
1.β β A $51 million loan for John Deere Tractors.
2.β β $286 million for Beitbridge Border.
3.β β $100 million for Kariba Dam refurbishment.
4.β β $192 million for hospitals in 2023.
5.β β 11 corresponding banking relationships returned in 2023 with OFAC approval.
6.β β Zimbabwe also got 2 SDR payments of over $2 billion while Zim was under sanctions, yet the U.S. has a veto on SDRs in the IMF but it never denied Zimbabwe those SDRs.
The U.S. OFAC could easily have threatened secondary sanctions on the lenders, it could have penalized the lenders or blocked these funds in U.S. banks if they were hell-bent on denying Zimbabwe loans. But instead, it approved those payments and did not block the U.S. dollar payment clearances.
This means that the U.S. will not stop Zimbabwe getting loans from multilateral institutions when we improve our credit rating because it could have easily blocked the above payments.
Why am I saying these things lately? We canβt strategize as a nation without true facts, and we are not helping ourselves by ignoring the gestures of goodwill coming from the evil USA. Yes, they are evil people, but they have humbled themselves and given a lot of concessions to a little country like Zimbabwe when they have the power to destroy the nation. That must be appreciated because not all nations were so lucky to escape U.S. sanctions, which often lead to war and total destruction.
My fear is the current anti-US rhetoric after so many concessions by a superpower, could actually solicit retribution which the nation does not need at this time. If we are not happy with the Magnitsky sanctions, then let those under them challenge them legally.
