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Oliver Kazunga
Senior Business Reporter
Zimbabwe’s trade deficit decreased by 66 percent to US$46,9 million in November this year on account of improved export performance of gold and tobacco.
A trade deficit shows the difference between the value of a country’s exports and imports — and a fall in the deficit is normally considered a positive development, as that means the country can conserve precious foreign currency for key obligations.
In its latest report, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) said, “Zimbabwe’s goods trade deficit for November 2024 was US$46,9 million, a 66 percent decrease from the October 2024 deficit of US$137,8 million.”
In November, Zimbabwe’s exports amounted to US$905,2 million, representing a 29,7 percent increase from the October 2024 value of US$698,1 million.
Among the top 10 products exported in November were semi-manufactured gold, tobacco, partly or wholly stemmed/stripped, and nickel mattes, accounting for 39,7 percent, 30,5 percent, and 11 percent respectively of the total value of exports during the month under review.
Zimbabwe’s major export destinations during the month under review were the United Arab Emirates, accounting for 40,5 percent of the total value of exports, China and South Africa (19,9 percent each).
The three countries accounted for around 80 percent of the total export value.
During the month under review, Zimstat indicated imports totalled US$952,1 million, reflecting a 13,9 percent increase from the October value of US$835,9 million.
Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products, machinery and mechanical appliances, cereals, and vehicles were among the top 10 imported products in November.
“The products constituted 22,1 percent, 11,9 percent, 9,1 percent and 7,6 percent of the total import value of US$952,1 million respectively,” said Zimstat.
In 2023, the country’s total value of exported goods grew by close to 10 percent to US$7,2 billion from US$6,59 billion realised over the same period in 2022.
Underpinned by the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), ZimTrade — the country trade promotion and development agency — seeks to improve total exports by at least 10 percent yearly to US$14 billion by 2030, where the Government targets an upper middle-income society status.
NDS1 is a five-year economic development policy that ends in 2025 after which a similar blue-print, NDS2, from 2026 would take the country to the desired vision.
Since its launch, the Government has made significant strides towards implementation of the NDS1 targets.
According to the mid-term concept note released last year, most of the projections have been met across all the 14 thematic priority areas including economic growth and stability, environmental protection, social protection, health, food and nutrition security, digital economy, and human capital development.
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