Zimbabwe Reports Quarterly Growth in Economy

By Xinhua 

December 21, 2023

Zimbabwe’s economy grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter of this year, mainly driven by increased electricity output and growth in the manufacturing and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors.

“The quarter-to-quarter growth rate assesses the change in gross value added between consecutive quarters. The GDP growth rate for the third quarter of 2023 is estimated at 1.3 percent,” the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) said in its GDP estimates for the third quarter released Wednesday.

ZIMSTAT said the main drivers of economic activity during the third quarter were electricity, which grew 12.7 percent following the commissioning of the Chinese-funded 600-megawatt Hwange units 7 and 8, manufacturing and ICT sectors.

Manufacturing grew 6.1 percent during the quarter, primarily due to increased production in the food and beverages sub-industries, while the ICT sector surged 33 percent owing to increased adoption of technology solutions across the country, ZIMSTAT said.

Other sectors that recorded significant growth during the quarter are financial and insurance activities, transport and storage, and water supply which was in high demand during the third quarter, the driest period of the year.

According to ZIMSTAT, industries that slowed down during the quarter include construction which experienced cement shortages and higher prices, and mining and quarrying due to reduced production of iridium, coal, diamond and chrome. “These production shortfalls weighed down the overall performance of the mining industry,” ZIMSTAT said.

For the third quarter, the year-on-year quarterly growth rate is estimated at minus 0.8 percent, suggesting a contraction compared to the same quarter in the previous year, ZIMSTAT said.

The year-on-year quarterly growth rate compares the value added of a particular quarter to the value added of the same quarter in the previous year.

ZIMSTAT, which is getting technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund in the production of national statistics accounts, said the quarterly GDP estimates are subject to revisions in line with the ZIMSTAT Statistics Revision Policy.

The revisions, it added, are mainly due to changes in methodology, availability of updated source data, benchmarking and deseasonalizing, among other factors.