Online Reporter
THE record export figures for the first seven months of 2026 are not a fluke.
They are the clearest evidence yet that Zimbabwe’s deliberate pro-business policies, pursued consistently since the advent of the Second Republic, are bearing tangible fruit.
Merchandise export earnings surged to US$4,75 billion, up from the figure recorded in the same period last year.
Crucially, this growth comfortably outstripped the 31,6 percent rise in imports, swinging Zimbabwe’s trade balance from a deficit of US$799,5 million to a surplus of US$65,6 million.
This represents a fundamental structural shift in Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory.
At the heart of this transformation lies the US$500 million per year in avoided steel imports.
Industrial engineering exports have doubled, soaring 110,4 percent to US$43,1 million in export value — from zero exports in the previous
year.
Yet what makes this recovery truly irrepressible is the recognition that Manhize remains, by all measures, a fledgling steel plant, with full annual production targeted at 1,2 million tonnes.
Dinson is already weighing a threefold output surge to two million tonnes annually.
As the plant continues to expand, so, too, will its multiplier effects — on employment, on downstream industries like cement production and on regional market penetration.
With approximately 60 percent of the current output already being exported to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, Zimbabwe is decisively
shifting from a net importer of steel to a regional producer and
exporter.
Manhize, however, is but one node in a rapidly expanding network of transformative investments unfolding across the country.
In Beitbridge, the US$3,6 billion Xintai Palm River Energy and Metallurgical Industrial Park is taking shape, spanning 5 100 hectares within a special economic zone.
The project encompasses a coking plant with annual capacity of one million tonnes, a ferro-chrome smelting plant producing 100 000 tonnes of high-carbon ferro-chrome and a 1 200-megawatt coal-fired thermal power plant.
Upon completion, it will employ over 2 000 people and substantially contribute to Zimbabwe’s mining and energy sectors.
These are not isolated projects but interconnected pillars of a deliberate industrialisation strategy under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
Parallel to this industrial boom, Zimbabwe’s bilateral trade with China has also increased, with blueberries nearly doubling to US$8,5 million.
This is the dividend of economic diplomacy and the “open for business” mantra that has defined the Second Republic’s engagement and re-engagement agenda.
Market watchers are now increasingly betting on Zimbabwe’s phenomenal growth in the medium to long term — and for good reason.
The macroeconomic foundation has never been more stable.
Inflation has fallen from a peak of 95,8 percent in July 2025 to single-digit levels in 2026, averaging 4,2 percent in the first seven months — the first time in over 30 years that the country has recorded sustained single-digit inflation.
The economy grew by 8,3 percent in 2025 and is projected to expand by approximately 5 percent this year.
Critics may point to lingering risks, and indeed, global headwinds
remain.
But the evidence of the past several years — continued investments across mining, manufacturing, energy and agriculture, sustained macroeconomic stability and a consistent policy framework — is the clearest sign yet that Zimbabwe is on the rise.
The Second Republic laid the policy foundation.
The private sector, both domestic and international, is building upon it.
What was once dismissed as ambition is now manifesting as achievement.
As Manhize expands, as Palm River comes online, as value addition and beneficiation take root across the economy, Zimbabwe is not merely recovering — it is transforming.
The country is, in all likelihood, on course to achieve its lofty aspirations under Vision 2030.
The recovery and growth are now irrepressible.
