Zimbabwe thinks growth will pick up again in 2025 after this year’s drought

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday that the country’s economy will grow faster than expected, from 2% this year to 6% in 2025. This will be due to better crop production and power generation as the country returns from a serious drought.

In a speech about the budget, Ncube said that the deficit would be 0.4% of GDP next year, down from 1.4% this year.

A drought caused by El Nino hurt Zimbabwe’s economy, as it did the economies of other southern African countries. The drought reduced food production and hydropower power supply.

Its mining industry was also hurt by lower prices for lithium and platinum.
Ncube told members in parliament that the farm sector would grow 12.8% in 2025, up from a 15.0% drop this year. Mining growth would also pick up, rising from 2.3% in 2024 to 5.6% next year.

Zimbabwe has had problems with its currency for a long time. In 2024, the country got rid of the Zimdollar and replaced it with the ZiG, or Zimbabwe Gold. However, the ZiG has also lost value since it was introduced.

Without going into more detail, Ncube said that the government would try to get people to trust the ZiG more next year. Most local deals are still done with foreign currencies like the dollar.