Zim Targets 7.4 % GDP Growth in 2021

Blessing Munatsi

With Zimbabwe’s 2021 budget launch imminent, government has maintained a positive outlook, with the country’s GDP expected to grow by 7,4 percent next year.

Presenting the 2021 budget strategy on Friday morning, Finance and Economic Development minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said productivity and import substitution, as well as recovery from the impact of Covid-19, coupled with global economic activity, should see the country leveraging on
fiscal balance gained through the Transitional Stabilisation Programme, TSP.

“We still see negative growth this year. For now we are still officially holding the -4.4% growth for 2020 and expect a recovery to 7.4% in 2021. Also because we are coming from a low base, if you go through negative growth rates for two years in succession, then there is recovery overall in terms of climate change, absence of shocks, the global economy turning for the better, you can expect a sharp rebound.

In the Budget Strategy Paper we recognize that the TSP is the bedrock of everything. Over the last years we have operated under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme and I am very proud of the overall performance of government in terms of TSP implementation.

Professor Ncube also highlighted the importance of value addition and agricultural productivity.

“We expect better rains, and expecting to domesticate our value chain, another phrase for import substitution. Because these days you don’t target producing a product but rather target producing part of a product in terms of the value chain’s contribution to the final product.

A big part of what we expect is a better agriculture season and this is a game changer in terms of growth forecasts, in the absence of shocks of course.”

The TSP expires at the end of this year, as Zimbabwe embarks on two phases of the National Development Agenda towards its vision 2030 target of achieving an upper middle income economy.

The National Development Strategy: 2021-25 is due for launch in the first week of November.

Watch the full launch below