Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, [email protected]
BULAWAYO remains the second-largest provincial economy in Zimbabwe, contributing approximately 12,9 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), with an estimated provincial GDP of about ZiG8,89 billion, Finance, Economic Development and Investment
Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has revealed.
He said the city’s contribution comes at a time Government has stepped up efforts to restore the manufacturing sector as Bulawayo was once Zimbabwe’s industrial powerhouse.
Calls for new investment have already been made to help reopen closed factories, upgrade outdated machinery, and boost production capacity, while funding will allow local industries to process raw materials from the country instead of exporting them raw, keeping profits and jobs inside the city.
Officially opening the Bulawayo Investment Indaba on Friday, Prof Ncube said Bulawayo has a rich industrial heritage, strategic location, skilled human capital and established infrastructure, which uniquely positions it to reclaim its place as one of Zimbabwe’s major industrial and commercial centres.
“Its historic identity as KoNtuthu Ziyathunqa speaks to a proud legacy; that heritage must not remain a matter of nostalgia but become the foundation on which we build the industrial Bulawayo of the future,” he told delegates.
“Let me anchor that heritage in today’s numbers. Bulawayo remains the second-largest provincial economy in Zimbabwe, contributing approximately 12,9 percent of national GDP, with an estimated provincial GDP of about ZiG8,89 billion,” said Prof Ncube.
“Critically, it also has the highest business formality rate in the country, at 40,4 percent, a measure of the depth of its formal, taxable and productive base. The structure of that economy tells its own story.”
Prof Ncube said in 2024, wholesale, retail and motor trade contributed 17,98 percent of provincial output, manufacturing 17,44 percent and financial and insurance activities 15.30 percent.
He said Bulawayo was not starting from scratch, but was starting from strength, while the task was to renew, modernise and reposition this powerhouse for the next generation.
“The question before us, therefore, is not whether Bulawayo has potential. It unquestionably does. The question is how quickly and effectively we convert that potential into productive investment and inclusive growth, through partnerships between Government, the private sector, financial institutions, local authorities, the diaspora and international investors,” he said.
Minister Ncube said investment decisions are made against a macro-economic backdrop. He said the country’s economy grew by 8,3 percent in 2025, one of the strongest performances on the continent, while growth in 2026 is projected at five percent, moderating off that high base but still above the regional average, anchored by firm mineral prices, a favourable agricultural season and the early dividends of our ease-of-doing-business reforms.
“Inflation has been brought into single digits for the first time in more than three decades, averaging four percent over the first eight months of 2026, down from a peak of 95,8 percent in July 2025. Currency, exchange rate and price stability have been maintained,” said Prof Ncube.
He said this stability was underpinned by a strengthening external position and foreign currency receipts rose by 47,8 percent to
US$10,72 billion in the first half of 2026, supporting a stronger current account.
Prof Ncube said exports climbed to US$1,47 billion in July 2026 while imports moderated to US$1,15 billion, yielding a trade surplus of US$320,6 million, some 34,1 percent higher than in June.
“A country that exports more than it imports is a country building the reserves and the confidence on which durable investment rests. Beyond the numbers, our policy credibility is being independently validated,” he said.
“The successful first review of the IMF Staff-Monitored Programme is anchoring our reform trajectory and reinforcing our broader re-engagement and debt-resolution agenda.”
Prof Ncube said that, equally significant, the World Bank, effective 1 July 2026, reclassified Zimbabwe and removed us from the Fragile, Conflict and Violence Countries List.
For investors that was not a bureaucratic footnote; it was a change in how the world prices Zimbabwe risk, and it opens doors to concessional finance and long-horizon capital that were previously closed.
“Let me put those figures in the language of enterprise. Single-digit inflation means a manufacturer in Bulawayo can quote a price today and honour it next month without watching value evaporate.
“It means a lender can price a loan over three years rather than three months; it means savings, at long last, retain their meaning.”
Prof Ncube said price stability is the precondition for every investment decision, while foreign direct investment has responded, reaching some US$965 million by mid-year.
He expressed that the harder question was not the headline growth figure; but whether that growth is felt by ordinary Zimbabweans, by the farm worker, the miner, the woman trader and the small enterprise.
The two-day event was held at the Zimbabwe International Conference and Exhibition Smart City (ZICES) under the theme: “Unlocking Strategic Investment Opportunities for Sustainable Industrial Transformation.”
