IMF projects Zimbabwe’s economy to grow 4.8 percent in 2023; October inflation dips

By Xinhua

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s real gross domestic product is expected to grow 4.8 percent in 2023, supported by strong performance in mining as well as the beneficial impact of structural reforms in the agriculture and energy sectors, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

The growth, however, is expected to slow to 3.5 percent in 2024 due to weaker global demand for minerals and a weather-related slowdown in agriculture, the IMF said in a statement issued Wednesday night at the conclusion of its staff visit conducted between Oct. 18-25.

“As external conditions worsen, the economic outlook will even more crucially depend on progress toward macro-economic stabilization and transformational structural reforms,” said Wojciech Maliszewski, head of the IMF staff team.

According to the IMF, Zimbabwe’s economy grew 3 percent last year.

Yearly inflation sees slight decline in October

By Xinhua

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s year-on-year inflation dipped slightly to 17.8 percent in October, down from the 18.4 percent recorded in the previous month, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) said Thursday.

However, month-on-month inflation accelerated to 2.5 percent from 1.0 percent the previous month, according to ZIMSTAT.

ZIMSTAT said “In October 2023, the Consumer Price Index for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels made the highest contribution at 1.4 percent, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with a contribution of 0.8 percent.”

Zimbabwe’s typically high annual inflation figure saw a significant decline last month. This decline occurred after the statistics agency adopted a geometric aggregation method for computing weighted price indices, replacing the previously used arithmetic aggregation.

This method resulted in a decrease in yearly inflation from 77.2 percent in August to 18.4 percent in September.

Thomas Chikadaya, the manager for price statistics at ZIMSTAT, said that the geometric aggregation method led to reduced weighted inflation rates, resulting in a significant drop in annual inflation.