According to the World Bank, the economy contracted by at least 45% between 2000 and 2008. The situation improved a little under the unified government of ZANU / PF and MDC between 2009 and 2013. However, the economic crisis then continued with all its might. Whether the political changes, specifically the abdication of President Robert Mugabe, will open up new economic opportunities in November 2017 depends, for example, on overcoming endemic corruption and numerous other restructuring measures.
Estimated GDP: US $ 21.0 billion (2018 estimated GTAI)
Per capita income (purchasing power parity): US $ 1,434 (2018 estimated GTAI)
Human Development Rank (HDI): Rank 150 (out of 189), 2018
Proportion of poverty (less than $ 2 per day): 60.6% of the population (2017 according to ZIMSTAT)
Distribution of income (Gini coefficient): 39.80 (2018)
In early February 2016, the World Bank announced that Zimbabwe owed international banks $ 7.1 billion, or 51 percent of GDP, and that the total debt burden was estimated at $ 10 billion. In September 2019, according to media reports, the International Monetary Fund estimated the debt burden at 8.5 billion US dollars, including 2.5 billion US dollars at the World Bank, 702 million US dollars at the African Development Bank and 309 million US dollars at the European Investment bank. Other estimates assumed a higher debt burden.
The mineral extraction made according to different estimates of the UN and Zimbabwean authorities 3-16% of GDP from. According to GTAI, it was 21.3% together with industry in 2017. In addition, there are manufacturing and the tertiary sector. Tobacco is an important agricultural product, albeit with fluctuating yields, as some media report. The main customers are Belgium, China and South Africa. In addition, minerals provide a large part of all export earnings. According to media reports, it was said to have been $ 3.2 billion in 2018. GTAI estimated overall economic growth in 2018 to be 3.5% and anticipates a decline of -7.1% in 2019.
According to homosociety, many banks in Zimbabwe have limited credit facilities. Business people do not trust the financial institutions, so there are large amounts of money in circulation without these being deposited into the banks. The creditworthiness of Zimbabwe was, according to media reports from Standard & Poor’s downgraded in December 2018 Zimbabwe was canceled because of its fiscal deficits by S & P Africa Index.
For years, the Zimbabwean government has been trying to get financial support from China, especially since investors from other countries have withdrawn due to the rigid requirements and insufficient planning security. However, China is now demanding stronger corruption controls in the public sector and is taking action itself to stop the misappropriation of its loans. Zimbabwean experts and journalists deal with this foreign and economic policy orientation towards China in a differentiated manner.
The labor force comprises the formal and informal sectors. Depending on how close an institution or organization is to the government, their data on the proportion of public employees, those employed in the formal sector and those employed in the informal sector, as well as the number of unemployed, vary. Statistics and estimates of unemployment figures there is a gap between formally and informally employed or unemployed people. As early as January 2014, the umbrella association of Zimbabwean trade unions in the trade sector ZCTU and the association of Zimbabwean entrepreneurs CZI criticized the fact that many companies had to close and lay off their workers. For many employees, given the rising cost of living, low incomes are not enough to support their families. Even for employees in para-state companies, the financial situation had been difficult for years.
In order to cover the livelihood of families, numerous children are forced to contribute to the family income through work. In the absence of alternatives, girls feel compelled to prostitute themselves. This affects their schooling, health and future prospects. The earnings are very low, so that poverty and food problems remain. The work done by women in small-scale family businesses, other family businesses and in the informal sector is mostly ignored, although it is essential for existence.
The structural problems in the informal sector include the lack of compliance with labor rights. For example, Zimbabwean research analyzes how, with reference to international labor law principles, decent work can be made possible through connections between the informal and formal sectors.
According to IMF / IMF estimates, the inflation rate was 6.5% in 2009, 7.8% in 2011 and 3.7% in 2012. In 2015 it was estimated at 0.2%. In 2008 there was hyperinflation of several billion percent. The lessons learned from this influenced the further action of the IMF / IMF towards Zimbabwe. According to media reports, at the end of 2018 the national statistical authority put the inflation rate at 42.09% and thus rising rapidly. In June 2019 it rose to 175.66%, in December 2019 Trading Economics put it to 521.2%and in mid-April 2020 it was 676.39% based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTATS). In June 2020, according to media reports, it was 786%, the exchange was closed at short notice by security forces.
