Zimbabwean economy

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Zimbabwe is currently one of the poorest economies in the world, which is mainly characterized by very high unemployment , low gross domestic product , foreign exchange shortages, investment and energy shortages and numerous economic sectors that are lying idle.

General

From the country's independence in 1980 to the mid-1990s, Zimbabwe's economy developed into one of the strongest economies in Africa. Almost all branches of the economy in the country, but especially tourism , agriculture and mining, recorded significant growth. Agriculture alone brought production growth of 30% in 1985, while the gross domestic product grew by 20% between 1980 and 1981. In addition, there was a generally relatively favorable investment climate: the government was not particularly corrupt and property was not defenselessly exposed to kleptocracy . Towards the end of the 1990s, the country's high potential was no longer being adequately exploited. In addition, inflation has now increased, if it was in the double-digit range until the end of the 1990s (1980: 7%, 1985: 10%, 1990: 17%, 1995: 28%, 1999: 56.9%), it increased in 2001 to 112.1%. This abnormal price increase was due not least to the flawed monetary policy of the central bank, which deliberately put disproportionately large amounts of money into circulation in order to further increase inflation. After inflation was 198.93% in 2002 and 598.75% in 2003, it fell briefly to 132.75% in 2004. However, from 2005 the price increase rose again rapidly and in 2006 broke through a four-digit value for the first time (1,281.11%). The hyperinflation , which occurred in 2007 at the latest , with values ​​of 66,212.3%, finally led to the temporary abolition of the national currency, the Zimbabwe dollar , in 2009 , after inflation last reached values ​​of 231,150,888.87% and the currency was practically no longer valued and by now even staple foods were no longer available.

High inflation, along with the imperfect transition from planned to market policies and numerous other factors, have contributed to Zimbabwe's economic performance plummeting by more than 50% since the late 1990s. Unemployment was also assumed to be 94%. The gross domestic product in 2008 was 3.19 billion US dollars, which meant a decrease of 14.8% compared to the previous year. The currency reserves were limited to 0.2 million US dollars (2008). The state budget showed a deficit of 8.6% of GDP. National debt was $ 6 billion, which is 189% of GDP.

Even after Emmerson Mnangagwa was elected president in 2018, the economy is in poor shape; Hunger and poverty are rampant. In 2019 the Zimbabwean dollar was reintroduced.

Agriculture

The country has rich potential , including above all fertile soils , which earned the country the name " Granary of Africa" before the implementation of the land reform . Corn was grown on 850,000 hectares and soy and tobacco was grown on another 400,000 hectares . Other important crops were cotton , peanuts and jute . With the beginning of the implementation of the land reform, in which farms should gradually be transferred to the locals, "agriculture slowly began to disintegrate", fields are now fallow and hardly anything is produced. The already low agricultural production is exacerbated by periods of drought , which also leads to food shortages. Part of the Zimbabwean population depends on food aid.

Mining and energy

Like agriculture, both the mining and energy sectors have almost completely stalled. The country has considerable mineral resources to offer, including gold , platinum , nickel , copper , tin , diamonds , coal and clay minerals . Gold production was 27,114 tons in 1998 and decreased to 7,017 tons in 2007. Gold mining is associated with the release of mercury, which leads to increasing environmental problems. According to experts, Zimbabwe has immense diamond potential, mainly in the east of the country, where the 68,500 hectares of Marange diamond fields are located. This is put at 1.7 billion US dollars per year. The current energy requirement can by far not be met. Zimbabwe imports electricity from South Africa (43%), Zambia (28.5%), Mozambique (19%) and the DR Congo (9.5%), with the import volume being 3.3 billion kWh (as of 2003). The daily import volume of petroleum was 23,000 barrels in the same year.

Key figures

All values ​​are given in US dollars ( purchasing power parity ).

year GDP
(purchasing power parity) 		GDP per capita
(purchasing power parity) 		GDP growth
per year
1998 25.7 billion 2,185 ...
2000 25.3 billion 2,160 −4.2%
2001 25.7 billion 2,204 −0.4%
2002 24.1 billion 2,071 −7.7%
2003 20.6 billion 1,769 −16.2%
2004 19.8 billion 1,691 −6.3%
2005 19.0 billion 1,602 −7.4%
2006 18.8 billion 1,569 −3.6%
2007 18.7 billion 1,552 −3.4%
2008 15.9 billion 1,315 −16.3%
2009 17.2 billion 1,410 7.4%
2010 20.2 billion 1,633 15.4%
2011 23.9 billion 1.921 16.3%
2012 27.7 billion 2.120 13.6%
2013 29.6 billion 2,205 5.3%
2014 31.0 billion 2,249 2.8%
2015 31.8 billion 2,248 1.4%
2016 32.4 billion 2.233 0.7%
2017 34.0 billion 2,283 3.0%

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jason Burke: 'Hungry kids collapse as looters take millions': life in today's Zimbabwe. theguardian.com of August 10, 2019, accessed August 10, 2019
  2. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved August 22, 2018 (American English).