17/1/2017/Reuters

Zimbabwe’s largest mobile telephony company Econet Wireless plans to raise $130 million from shareholders to pay foreign loans it is struggling to settle due to a severe dollar crunch, it said on Tuesday.

Econet said in a statement that to avoid defaulting on external obligations, it had decided to raise money via a rights issue, adding that foreign currency shortages made it difficult for the company and its subsidiaries to pay foreign loans.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Stoddard)