Online Reporter
Judith Phiri
Zimpapers Business Hub
Zimbabwe is steadily closing its tax revenue gap, with the country’s tax-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio projected to converge with the OECD’s upper-middle-income benchmark by 2027.
According to the latest global data compiled by the OECD, the average tax-to-GDP ratio for middle-income countries is 18,9 percent.
Zimbabwe remains on course towards the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2, 2026-2030) target of 22 percent by 2030.
Its tax revenue-to-GDP ratio is approximately 14,5 percent.
The country is intensifying domestic resource mobilisation to generate more funding to finance key infrastructure, social services and other national development priorities.
ZIMRA Commissioner-General Ms Regina Chinamasa told delegates at the Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) 2026 on Thursday last week that bolstering domestic revenue mobilisation was critical to match the country’s development ambitions.
“The size of our tax revenue must match the size of our 2030 dream of an upper-middle-income Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s tax revenue-to-GDP ratio is expected to reach 17,3 percent in 2026, rising to 18,9 percent in 2027, 19,9 percent in 2028, 20,9 percent in 2029 and 21,9 percent by 2030.
“For 2026, the projected actual ratio is estimated at between 17,5 and 18,2 percent, placing the southern African country between 0,2 and 0,9 percentage points ahead of the year’s target.
“Despite being ahead of target, the projected performance remains between 0,7 and 1,4 percentage points below the cited OECD upper-middle-income benchmark of 18,9 percent,” Commissioner Chinanamasa said.
She said the projections indicate that Zimbabwe could reach parity with that benchmark in 2027 as efforts to broaden the tax base, improve compliance and strengthen revenue administration gather pace.
Ms Chinamasa said the gap between Zimbabwe’s tax revenue-to-GDP ratio and the NDS2 target of 22 percent is expected to progressively narrow from 4,7 percentage points to just 0,1 percentage points by 2030, representing 99,5 percent attainment of the national aspiration.
She said higher and sustainable tax revenue were key to infrastructure financing, provision of social services and economic transformation.
“Our 2026 to 2030 strategic pillars are mandate pillars powered by two enabling pillars, underpinned by robust governance and risk management.
“The first pillar is revenue mobilisation and tax base expansion, followed by ease of doing business and trade facilitation, digital transformation and innovation and lastly, human capital excellence and people transformation.”
This is in line with NDS2, Zimbabwe’s economic blueprint from 2026 to 2030, which places greater emphasis on domestic resource mobilisation to maintain fiscal sustainability and finance national development.
Under NDS2, the Government seeks to increase the broader revenue-to-GDP ratio from around 16 percent in 2025 to above 22 percent by 2030.
The strategy identifies tax reforms, broadening the tax base, improving compliance among formal and informal businesses and greater use of technology in tax administration as key measures.
The growing focus on domestic revenue comes as Zimbabwe seeks to reduce reliance on external sources of development finance while strengthening its capacity to fund economic and social programmes from locally generated resources.
ZIMRA’s 2026–2030 strategy similarly places domestic resource mobilisation at the centre of the revenue authority’s contribution to NDS2 and Vision 2030.
The authority says that broadening the tax base, integrating more informal sector operators into the formal tax system, improving voluntary compliance and leveraging technology are among the interventions required to increase national tax revenue collection.
