Johannesburg  - Southern Africa is considering injecting 2 billion dollars into Zimbabwe to kick-start its economic recovery over the next 10 months, the finance minister of neighbouring South Africa, Trevor Manuel, said Thursday.

Manuel was speaking a day after finance ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Cape Town, along with the African Development Bank, to discuss Zimbabwe's economic reconstruction and other matters.

The new power-sharing government in Zimbabwe had been reported to be seeking 1 billion dollars to be able to restore basic services and pay salaries in the short term.

But Manuel told SAfm public radio that new Finance Minister Tendai Biti had come to Cape Town with a request for 2 billion dollars - a 1-billion-dollar loan to stimulate business, particularly small and medium-sized business activity, and another 1 billion dollars aimed at ending emergencies in health, education, sanitation, energy, water provision and other services.

"This [the second billion] is a tiding-over to ensure they can improve on the quality of services rendered," Manuel said, singling out the cholera crisis that has claimed close to 4,000 lives since August as an example of the breakdown in services in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's request came as the global financial crisis starts to hit home in the region, shrinking demand for the commodities on which many southern African economies rely and forcing mass job cuts.

South Africa's own economy contracted by 1.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.

The SADC finance and other government ministers are meeting again Friday and Saturday to discuss Zimbabwe and other issues.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has estimated his government's long-term funding needs at up to 5 billion dollars. (dpa)