Press Release No. <a name="P16_75"></a>04/208

The International Monetary Fund has decided to close its resident representative office in Harare effective end-October 2004. The Harare post has been maintained with local staff since October 2003, when the previous Fund's Resident Representative left Harare. Future relations with Zimbabwe will be conducted via contacts with headquarters staff and regular Executive Board discussions.

It should be noted that the Executive Board of the Fund has on July 8, 2004 decided to postpone a recommendation for compulsory withdrawal of Zimbabwe from the IMF, providing the country with another chance to strengthen its cooperation with the Fund in terms of economic policies and payments. Therefore, the closure of the IMF Harare office should not be linked to the overdue financial obligations of Zimbabwe vis-à-vis the IMF. In fact, the IMF does not maintain resident representatives in all member countries nor in all borrowing countries. A number of factors are taken into consideration in the decision to open or maintain a resident representative office, including the intensity of program involvement and/or the regional economic importance of the member country.

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