Story by John Nhandara
ZIMBABWE is on course to rake in US$7 billion in export earnings this year, driven by increased production in strategic sectors of the economy.
The country has witnessed a robust economic transformation through ease of doing business reforms which have also fostered an export-led economy.
According to data from trade promotion body, ZimTrade, the country’s exports stood at over US$4 billion as of August this year, with exports of manufactured and value added products registering a 20 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
“As of August 2023 Zimbabwe’s exports stood at US$4.5 billion which is a 6, 1 increase compared to US,$4.2 billion in August 2022. We also saw an increase in terms of the export of manufactured products which increased by 20 percent to US$284 million compared to 2022.This is in line in terms of our target of US$7 billion by 2023 and US$14 billion by 2030.last year we reached over 6 billion,” said Zimtrade-Director Operations, Mr Similo Nkala.
Economist Mr Chris Mugari says the country’s export growth trajectory witnessed in the recent past is encouraging and must be sustained.
“The level of exports in our economy has been increasing and that increase is bringing the much needed foreign currency. This foreign currency is used to sustain all other industries because exports are a major component of our agri-demand thus we are going to see an outward shift of the agri-demand curve. In other words we will see the real GDP increasing. So we encourage the government to continue putting in place policies that encourage that growth in exports,” he said.
Basing on the 2022 export performance report, the country is likely to reach its target of merchandise exports for 2023 as enshrined in the National Exports Strategy, with the combined figure of goods and services exports likely to surpass the US$7.2 billion target for this year.
