Zim PM: Diamond Revenues to Help Repay Debt

(IDEX Online News) - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Tuesday the country would use revenue from diamond sales to repay part of its external debt amounting to $7.1 billion, according to a Reuters report.

"The government has so far sold diamonds worth $300 million, and the money will be used to service the debt and also to rehabilitate Zimbabwe's faltering industry," Tsvangirai told an investment conference in Harare.

Currently Zimbabwe is not allowed to export diamonds from its Marange region due to human rights violations committed there a few years ago. Repeated international efforts to oversee operations and allow renewed exports have failed.

Today, at least some of the diamond production from Marange is reportedly smuggled out of the country, generating little income for the state. Individual officials, however, are reportedly benefiting from these operations.