WASHINGTON — Zimbabwe is expected to be Southern Africa’s fastest-growing economy in 2025, with gross domestic product projected to expand by 6%, according to new figures released at the IMF–World Bank Spring Meetings.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts a sharp rebound from last year’s 1.7% growth, citing improved agricultural output, stronger terms of trade, infrastructure investment, and a recovery in manufacturing. Rising global gold prices and easing inflationary pressures are also seen supporting gains.
At 6%, Zimbabwe’s growth outlook outpaces regional peers including South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sub-Saharan Africa overall is projected to grow about 4%.
IMF African Department Director Abebe Aemro Selassie said Zimbabwe has made “commendable progress” in stabilizing its economy despite limited access to affordable financing.
“Zimbabwe has gone through quite a lot of challenges in recent years, and one of the things that distinguishes Zimbabwe from other countries in the region is that they have not been able to access concessional funding to the same degree that others have, helping defray the impact of all global shocks of recent years,” he said. “Against this difficult backdrop, it is good to see that the country has been trying to put in place the right policies and in recent months, I think we have seen significant effort being made.”
Selassie welcomed fiscal and monetary reforms aimed at reducing inflation and currency volatility.
“Importantly, I think recourse to central bank financing has diminished quite a lot, it will be important to sustain that because it is this repeated recourse to central bank financing that has created a lot of difficulties in the past, also with inflation, with exchange rare [rate] and the foreign exchange environment that the country has,” he said. “We are encouraged by what the government has been doing in recent months and I think that needs to be sustained… and we are trying to work as closely as we can to help the country implement the vision that they have for promoting growth.”
The IMF said the regional outlook is supported by stabilizing commodity markets, easing geopolitical tensions and a gradual recovery from climate-related shocks.
