By Zivanai Dhewa

Government has remained unwavering and consistent in its effort to build the country’s economy, amid a massive global economic recession, estimated to shrink by 5% this year.

Speaking during a virtual 2020 Annual Meeting of Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank Group, Finance and Economic Development Minister and African Development Bank Governor, Professor Mthuli Ncube, revealed that Government is working hard to stimulate the economy despite the challenges posed by the global novel Corona virus.

“The Government of Zimbabwe continues to pursue sound macro-economic and financial management policies and is on a new trajectory accompanied by key reforms that stimulate domestic production, export growth, and the rebuilding and transformation of the economy.

“To this end, 2020 National Budget marked the transition from austerity to a growth stimulation and employment generation era.  Strong emphasis is now on reviving key sectors of the economy through promotion of production oriented investment and productivity without losing focus on fiscal responsibility, as well as prioritizing, enhancing productivity for growth, job creation, equitable development, strengthening social safety nets, strengthening competitiveness and building long term resilience of the economy,” said Minister Mthuli.

Prof Mthuli further added that Zimbabwe like all other global economies has been antagonized by the impact of the Covid19 pandemic, forcing Government to revise its 2020 growth projection.

“Pursuant to the above, the Government has revised its 2020 growth projection from 3% to -4% with contraction now impacted across all productive sectors of the economy namely agriculture, manufacturing, mining, tourism with the exception of health services and Information Communication and Technology.

“Besides the loss of life, the pandemic has destabilized economies globally through supply chain disruptions in trade, tourism, productivity and other global integration mechanisms,” he added.

Meanwhile the World Bank in its June 2020 Global Economic Prospects has predicted that the global economy will shrink by 5.2% this year.

“Economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink by 7% in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted, while Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to contract by 2.8% in 2020, which will be the deepest on record. The pandemic has taken a heavy human and economic toll, causing the most serious disruption to region-wide economic activity on record,” read the report.