Business Reporter/Agencies
Zimbabwe’s economy is larger than previously reported, at least on paper, following a rebasing exercise that now puts the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at US$44.4 billion, up from the earlier estimate of US$35.2 billion, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat).
The new stats fly in the face of hard pressed citizens who are failing to make ends meet in the highly informalised nation.
The working class like civil servants are earning just about US$270 per month which is far way below the poverty datum lines while the majority are surviving from hand to mouth selling wares on the streets.
Economic experts have since argued that rebasing the economy does not mean much when that value cannot trickle down to the last man on the ground
The new figures follow a comprehensive economic census conducted in 2024, which identified a significantly higher number of businesses that have emerged since the last GDP base year revision in 2019. Finance and Economic Development Minister Prof. Mthuli Ncube explained that the rebasing process was necessary to capture the current structure and breadth of Zimbabwe’s economy more accurately.
“This rebasing includes economic activities that were previously unaccounted for,” said Minister Ncube. “It provides a more realistic view of how the economy is performing and evolving.”
The revised GDP has key implications:
As noted by NewZwire, while the rebasing exercise is critical for fiscal planning and investor perception, it does not translate into immediate improvements in personal incomes or purchasing power for ordinary Zimbabweans. Rather, it is a technical adjustment that provides policymakers with a more updated macroeconomic framework.
The announcement also follows years of inconsistent economic data, with varying estimates from international institutions. The World Bank recently pegged Zimbabwe’s GDP at US$44.1 billion in 2024, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated it at US$38 billion.
Although the updated GDP figures may improve Zimbabwe’s attractiveness to international lenders and investors, analysts caution that real economic progress will require deeper structural reforms, not just statistical revisions.
