By Nyasha Chingono
HARARE – Zimbabwe has revised its economic growth forecast downwards as southern Africa’s worst drought in decades ravages crop yields, its finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday, but a bounceback in growth is likely in 2025.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said economic growth is forecast at 2% for 2024, down from 3.5% forecast in November, due to an El Niño-induced drought which has led to widespread crop failure.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon in which surface waters of the central and eastern Pacific become unusually warm, causing changes in global weather patterns.
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Zimbabwe is among the hardest hit by drought in the region, impacting crop yields. Neighbours Zambia and Malawi have declared states of disaster as a result of the drought.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund also said it expected Zimbabwe’s growth to fall to 2%, down from 5.3% last year.
“We are all downgrading our growth targets for 2024 because of deeper than expected impact on our agriculture, but next year is brighter,” Ncube said.
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Growth is expected to recover to above 5% in 2025, he added. In May, the Zimbabwean government forecasted that staple maize production would drop 72% in the 2023/24 season.
Ncube said the drought had affected agriculture output and the country expects to import 1.4 million metric tonnes of grain.
To ease hunger across the country, Zimbabwe received around $32 million in drought insurance last week from an African Union agency.
The government has also appealed to international donors to assist with food aid.
Ncube will give the mid-term budget review later this month. (Reuters)