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The Economy of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean Economy

Zimbabwe's map

Economy - overview: The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued official exchange rate, hyperinflation, and bare store shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. The EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds. Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's arrears on past loans and the government's unwillingness to enact reforms that would stabilize the economy. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely prints money to fund the budget deficit, causing the official annual inflation rate to rise from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, passed 1000% in 2006, and 26000% in November 2007, and to 11.2 million percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 30,000 per US dollar in September 2007.

GDP:

GDP - real growth rate: -12.6% (2008 est.) -5.5% (2007 est.) -4.6% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita:

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 18.1% industry: 22.6% services: 59.3% (2008 est.)

Population below poverty line:

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2% highest 10%: 40.4% (1995)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 50.1 (2006)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

Labor force: 4.039 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 66% industry: 10% services: 24% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 80% (2005 est.)

Budget: revenues: $153,700 expenditures: $179,300 (2008 est.)

Industries: mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

Industrial production growth rate: -6% (2008 est.)

Electricity - production: 9.467 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

Electricity - consumption: 11.59 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports: 34 million kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - imports: 2.867 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption: 14,590 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Oil - exports: 0 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports: 15,800 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Agriculture - products: corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

Exports: $1.806 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Exports - commodities: platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

Exports - partners: South Africa 33.8%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 8.3%, Japan 8.1%, Botswana 7.4%, Netherlands 5.2%, China 5.2%, Italy 4.1%, Zambia 4.1% (2007)

Imports: $2.337 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

Imports - partners: South Africa 50.7%, China 8.4%, US 4.5%, Botswana 4.3% (2007)

Debt - external: $5.255 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:

Currency:

Currency code:

Exchange rates: Zimbabwean dollars (ZWD) per US dollar - NA (2008 est.), 30,000 (2007), 162.07 (2006), 77.965 (2005), 5.729 (2004) note: these are official exchange rates; non-official rates vary significantly

Fiscal year: