The President of Zimbabwe claimed that the economy was slowly rebounding raising debate as industrial officials believe the nation is in dire support. HE President Robert Mugabe said that the economy’s rebounding would be driven by mining and agriculture while industrial officials told that the economy was in the intensive care and in dire need of support.
“We are going to leverage on diamonds and other minerals, alongside agriculture, so that together they drive our economic recovery trajectory,” President Mugabe told Reuters
Association for Business in Zimbabwe (Abuz) CEO Victor Nyoni, on the other hand, said, “For businesses said to be on the ‘priority list’, it takes banks no less than two months to facilitate a foreign payment. This in our view as Abuz does not reflect an economy that is on the rebound.”
The argument that Zimbabwe’s economy is rebounding is based on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) economic projections of 1,7 per cent economic growth rebound.
RBZ Deputy Governor Dr Kupukile Mlambo said that the country’s economy was improving as there was re-engagement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and significant progress in structuring financial packages to resolve the country’s arrears to other multilateral creditors the economy.
“As a result of these and other actions by the government, and the good rains God blessed us with, we project a modest economic growth rebound of 1,7 per cent in 2017, up from 0,6 per cent in 2016,” said Mlambo.
The World Bank stated that the country is set to rebound to 2.8% in 2017 due to good rains. However, those who believe that the economy is not on rebound sites the economic challenges which include cash crunch currently facing the nation. Business leaders told Mugabe that the government expending fiscal deficit and domestic borrowing were unsustainable and could destabilise the bank sector.
The country is facing a foreign currency shortage which could also be as a result of the fiscal deficit. Zimbabwe is yet to fully recover from the 2008 inflation which saw the country abandoning its currency. The country has been implementing a lot of strategies to attract investors and revamp the industry to grow the economy.
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