According to the country's finance minister, Zimbabwe hopes to agree on a new staff-monitored programme with the International Monetary Fund by April 2024.

An IMF team is scheduled to visit later this month to kick off the talks

"Our intention is that by the time we go for the Spring Meetings in April 2024, we should have signed off on a staff-monitored programme," said Mthuli Ncube at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech.

"It will focus on maintaining discipline on the fiscal front and continue fine-tuning our exchange rate system and maintaining a tight monetary policy."

An IMF staff-monitored programme is an informal agreement whereby IMF staff oversee a member country's economic programme. Should the programme be successful, it can result in a future financial arrangement, Reuters news agency reports.

Zimbabwe's economy has been damaged by ongoing spells of hyperinflation. The country's access to long-term international capital is obstructed by billions of Dollars of arrears on debts to foreign lenders, such as the World Bank and African Development Bank.

Furthermore, Zimbabwe's finance minister added on Thursday that a number of white farmers whose land was seized 20 years ago in one of former president Robert Mugabe's most divisive policies had reached an agreement with the government for compensation terms.

"Individual farmers have agreed to the payment plan, and they are happy to sign with the government," he commented.

Zimbabwe plans to pay the farmers $3.5 billion over 10 years as opposed to 20 years, as was announced three years ago.

The compensation is a key part of the government's strategy to clear the arrears, developed in collaboration with the African Development Bank.