Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is currently touring Libya - his second trip abroad since his controversial re-election in last month's polls.
In the course of his visit, a beef export deal was clinched in which meat worth about 16.5 million dollars will be exported to Libya, while another for tobacco valued at two million dollars was also reached.
Libya currently supplies around 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel, making it the largest supplier of petroleum-based fuels to the southern African country, the state-run Herald daily said Tuesday, cited by AFP.
A deal signed between Harare and Tripoli in July last year and valued at 360 million US dollars has allowed for regular flows of desperately needed fuel to Zimbabwe, which suffered acute shortages for nearly two years.
The fuel shortages have been blamed on the country's foreign exchange crisis, and on corruption at the Parastatal National Oil Compnay of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM).
However, the southern African country is now paying for its purchases through exports to Libya under an agreement between banks in the two countries. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
