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South Africa Says It Declined Zimbabwe $1.2 Billion Loan Request

South Africa Says It Declined Zimbabwe $1.2 Billion Loan Request

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa declined Zimbabwe’s request to borrow $1.2 billion, the National Treasury said.

The country’s northern neighbor made the request for a rescue package in December, Jabulani Sikhakhane, a spokesman for the Pretoria-based Treasury, said by phone Monday.

“South Africa doesn’t have the money to provide that kind of assistance,” Sikhakhane said.

Hopes of an economic revival in Zimbabwe lie in tatters 14 months after President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, as the nation reels from foreign-exchange and fuel shortages, strikes and a dearth of political leadership.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Njini in Johannesburg at fnjini@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro, Jacqueline Mackenzie

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