Author(s)

Gorden Moyo

Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Lupane State University, The Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

The coronavirus aka Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Zimbabwe at a time when the country was in the throes of its worst economic turmoil in recent years. Within months of its arrival, the pandemic has already upended the public healthcare system, eroded the livelihoods of millions of people, and further deepened the economic headwinds in the country. Apparently, Zimbabwe has been in a crisis mode since the beginning of the 21^st Century. As such, the pandemic has added an extra burden to the country that is already creaking under mounting weight of external debt peonage, fiscal deficit, liquidity crisis, and international isolation among many other social and economic ills. In this context, the country faces an uphill task in mobilising financial and non-financial resources in order to contain the coronavirus crisis. This article therefore sets out to examine the obstacles and opportunities for financing the fight against Covid-19 pandemic within a discursive context of a debt trapped Southern African country.

Covid-19, Debt Relief, Domestic Resource Mobilisation, Financing Gap, Public Finance Management, Special Drawing Rights, Zimbabwe

Moyo, G. (2020) Obstacles and Opportunities for Financing the Fight against Covid-19 in the Debt Trapped Zimbabwe. iBusiness, 12, 52-68. doi: 10.4236/ib.2020.122004.