Zimbabwe Economy Profile 2008

Economy - overview

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued official exchange rate, hyperinflation, and bare store shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products. The EU and the US provide food aid on humanitarian grounds. Badly needed support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's arrears on past loans and the government's unwillingness to enact reforms that would stabilize the economy. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe routinely prints money to fund the budget deficit, causing the official annual inflation rate to rise from 32% in 1998, to 133% in 2004, 585% in 2005, passed 1000% in 2006, and 26000% in November 2007. Private sector estimates of inflation in 2007 are well above 100,000%. Meanwhile, the official exchange rate fell from approximately 1 (revalued) Zimbabwean dollar per US dollar in 2003 to 30,000 per US dollar in 2007.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$6.186 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate)

$16.17 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

-6% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$500 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 16.7%
industry: 21.6%
services: 61.6% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line

68% (2004)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 40.4% (1995)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

26,470% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (2007)

Investment (gross fixed)

18.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Labor force

3.998 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 66%
industry: 10%
services: 24% (1996)

Unemployment rate

80% (2005 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index

50.1 (2006)

Budget

revenues: $1.105 billion
expenditures: $1.366 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt

189.9% of GDP (2007 est.)

Industries

mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages

Industrial production growth rate

0.5% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production

9.95 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption

12.27 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports

0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports

3.013 billion kWh (2005)

Oil - production

0 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption

16,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports

13,370 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports

0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - proved reserves

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

Natural gas - production

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - imports

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves

0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current Account Balance

-$538 million (2005 est.)

Agriculture - products

corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs

Exports

$1.76 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities

platinum, cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing

Exports - partners

South Africa 24.8%, Democratic Republic of the Congo 17.6%, Botswana 15.7%, US 10.4% (2006)

Imports

$2.183 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities

machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels

Imports - partners

South Africa 40.8%, Zambia 29.6%, US 4.9% (2006)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$120 million (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external

$4.876 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home

$NA

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad

$NA

Market value of publicly traded shares

$26.56 billion (2006)

Economic aid - recipient

$367.7 million (2005 est.)

Currency (code)

Zimbabwean dollar (ZWD)

Exchange rates

Zimbabwean dollars per US dollar - 30,000 (2007), 162.07 (2006), 77.965 (2005), 5.729 (2004), 0.824 (2003)
note: these are official exchange rates; non-official rates vary significantly

Fiscal year

calendar year