Press Release No. 09/168

Following IMF Executive Board approval of targeted technical assistance to Zimbabwe (Press release No. 09/152), a number of IMF technical assistance missions have been scheduled for the next three months at the request of Minister of Finance Tendai Biti. A team of experts from the IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department will visit Harare during May 18–29, 2009 to provide technical assistance in the areas of (i) payments systems; (ii) lender-of-last-resort operations and banking supervision; and (iii) central banking governance and accounting. Shortly thereafter, two teams of experts from the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department will provide technical assistance in the areas of (i) tax policy and (ii) tax administration. IMF staff are looking forward to working with the authorities in providing technical assistance in the targeted areas.