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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Covid-19 pandemic will not retard the positive economic growth trajectory Zimbabwe has achieved so far but instead the momentum will be maintained into 2022, Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has said.
Minister Ncube said the gains achieved under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (2018-2020) have placed the economy on firm ground, with ability to withstand the shocks induced by the pandemic such as the national lockdown measures meant to contain the pandemic.
The country is now grappling with the fourth wave of the Covid-19 but the Government has urged citizens to remain calm saying the mitigation measures put in place, including the ongoing mass vaccination exercise, will lessen the impact of the pandemic.
In an interview after officiating at the listing of Bindura Nickel Corporation on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) last Friday, Prof Mthuli Ncube said the economy has remained stable through the different phases of the pandemic.
“I am very pleased with the general stability of the macro-economic environment, inflation has been dropping which is a very good development. The quality of monetary policy that’s being implemented by the Central Bank and the fiscal policy are giving us positive outcomes,” he said.
Minister Ncube said although the Covid-19 pandemic is still a risk, he expected that going into next year the positive macro-economic gains the country has so far achieved will continue.
He urged Zimbabweans to play their part in mitigating against the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, including getting vaccinated.
The mass vaccination programme is being rolled out for free and the country targets herd immunity of 10 million people out of its population of nearly 15 million.
So far about four million have been vaccinated under the first dose while about three million, are fully vaccinated according to the Ministry of Health and Child Care update issued yesterday.
“We are going to make sure that we encourage all our citizens to be vaccinated, vaccination is the only silver bullet against the pandemic,” said Prof Ncube.
He said vaccination is also an economic recovery strategy because once everyone is safe, the economy can be opened up.
“We expect a growth of about 5,5 percent in 2022 and what this means is that most economic activities should resume in the shortest possible time ,” said Prof Ncube.
Zimbabwe’s economic growth this year is projected to be 7,8 percent underpinned largely by the agriculture sector that received good rains in the previous rain season.
Prof Ncube said there has also been a general stability that has come through on the macro-economic front as evidenced by the slowing down of inflation and the offshore fund in terms of the current account, which is expected to be in a surplus position.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), the country’s year on year inflation for the month of November 2021 as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index stood at 58,4 percent.
Under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), a five-year economic blue-print running from 2021-2025), the Government targets a single-digit inflation.
“We still expect a good rain season, which will support the agricultural sector, we still expect strong performance from the mining sector and we also expect our manufacturing sector to continue doing well and investment in infrastructure by Government will continue going forward into 2022,” said Minister Ncube.
He however said the tourism sector still remains the hardest hit on the back of the travel restrictions that countries have imposed as part of measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We wish tourism could perform better but it’s the pandemic that is slowing us down on our tourism support.We however continue to support the industry so that it can recover,” said Prof Ncube. — @KazungaOliver
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