Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen to US$47 billion as of October last year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports.
Different GDP figures have been put forward in the past, ranging from US$23 billion to US$60 billion.
The figures presented by IMF will put to rest some of the debates around Zimbabwe’s GDP, at a time when the country’s economic growth rates have been outpacing regional peers.
This upsurge sees Zimbabwe surpassing several of its SADC counterparts in terms of GDP size, including Zambia US$31 billion, Mozambique US$24 billion, Botswana US$22 billion, Namibia US$14 billion and Malawi US$11 billion.
Despite facing illegal sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, Zimbabwe’s Second Republic has implemented ground-breaking initiatives aimed at driving economic growth.
According to the IMF, as at October 2023, Zimbabwe’s GDP, which is the national income as a measure of productivity, having now reached at US$47 billion is larger than the GDP of Zambia and Rwanda combined, it’s also larger than Botswana and Namibia combined,
The country’s remarkable economic performance underscores its resilience and commitment to overcoming challenges and fostering sustainable development.
Economic analysts and captains of industry have described the IMF’s favourable rating for Zimbabwe’s GDP as a reflection of the effectiveness of the Government’s transformative strategies and the nation’s potential for robust economic expansion.
“These numbers give us renewed confidence in what we can achieve as a country,” said economist and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe RBZ Monetary Policy Committee member Mr Persistence Gwanyanya.
“You find the GDP projection of Zimbabwe at US$47 billion in 2024, which is higher than most of our regional peers, which is clear evidence that despite the economic losses we experienced as a country over the last two or so decades, our country remains a strong economy.”
According to Mr Gwanyanya, Zimbabwe’s GDP has the capacity to approach Kenya’s level, which is now estimated to be about US$150 billion
“In actual fact, our economy was at one point in the early years comparable to that of Kenya, and we still have the potential to go to those levels,” he said.
“We need to summon a new spirit as a country, a spirit of hard work, honesty and sacrifice.
“However, what the numbers are telling us is that there is potential for the Zimbabwean economy to grow faster than its regional peers but also to catch up with the economies that it used to compare with.”
Buy Zimbabwe general manager Mr Alois Burutsa said: “As a country, we are making a good progress, we are moving in the right trajectory.
“However, from a Buy Zimbabwe view, we feel that our GDP as a country can easily be much be more especially if we are going to localise our value chain, our local content, if we are going to support our local industry because as Zimbabwe we are endowed with very good primary resources like your minerals and agriculture.
“Our challenge is that we are not value-adding those minerals so, imagine if we value add our gold, our platinum and so forth, we can easily double if not treble that GDP.”
Political commentator, Mr Kudzai Mtisi, said Zimbabwe was way ahead of many other countries.
“Looking at these figures from the IMF, one can see clearly that years propaganda against Zimbabwe even affected the self-esteem of Zimbabweans,” he said.
“The average Zimbabwean thinks Zimbabwe is at the bottom of the rung in Africa yet it’s one of the biggest economies with a very large GDP per capita considering its small population.
“Those who have travelled across Africa will tell you that Zimbabwe is way ahead in terms of development, only if the Zimbabweans themselves knew . . . and be proud and promote brand Zimbabwe.”
Analysts have said Zimbabwe’s GDP exceeds most of the projections since the economy is largely informal.
The bustling informal trading hubs such as Glenview home industry and Mbare are believed to generate substantial sums of money, much of which goes unreported and unaccounted for in official economic assessments.
One striking indicator of this hidden economic activity is Zimbabwe’s staggering daily consumption of around three million litres of diesel and two million litres of petrol.
This level of fuel consumption surpasses that of many supposedly more economically stable nations, signalling a thriving underground economy that fuels significant economic transactions outside the formal sector. – Herald
