Zimbabwean lender Time Bank has proposed a syndicated loan of $35bn to help the government liquidate its external debt and compensate former farmers whose land was expropriated over the past decades.

The bank, state-owned daily The Herald reported on April 27, said the loan will, among other obligations, pay the country's $20.4bn foreign debt, $7bn to Black farmers who lost their land without compensation before independence in 1980 and $3.5bn to White farmers whose land was expropriated over the past 24 years.

Chris Tande, the bank's founder and managing director, told the daily that seven other groups, including pensioners and insurance policyholders whose savings were eroded by hyperinflation and ex-farm workers for loss of employment since 2000, will be paid too.

"The motive of Time Bank in making this loan proposal of $35bn to finance such compensations, as part of its strategy, is that Time Bank wishes to see an improvement in the business environment in Zimbabwe, and believes that payment of such compensations by government, in an inclusive manner, to all the 10 groups of people, including PFOs [previous farm owners], as one of the groups, will improve the business environment in the Zimbabwean economy,” Tande said.

The bank has submitted the proposal to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government and is awaiting its approval.

Mnangagwa recently appointed African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Akinwumi Adesina and former Mozambican President, Joachim Chissano to assist in resolving the external debt. Creditors include the World Bank, the Paris Club, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and African Development Bank (AfDB).  Zimbabwe has defaulted since 2000.

A proposal for the government to compensate Blacks who lost their land during 100 years of British colonial rule had never been mentioned at any forum.

Tande said that Time Bank does not have $35bn on its balance sheet.

“Instead,” he added, “Time Bank has the organisational capacity to arrange such a loan facility for the Government, as syndicate loans, including mobilising financial resources and structuring such loans to ensure viable loan repayments.”