Economy
Economic overview:
Agriculture employs 70% of the labor force of this landlocked nation and supplies almost 40% of exports. Mining accounts for only 5% of both GDP and employment, but minerals and metals account for about 40% of exports. Severe drought caused GDP to drop 8% in 1992, with growth rebounding to 2% in 1993 and 4.5% in 1994, only to drop by 2.4% in 1995. The government is continuing to push its IMF/World Bank structural adjustment program aimed at encouraging exports and foreign investment. Officials face the difficult task of restraining expenditures in their effort to keep inflation within bounds.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $18.1 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
-2.4% (1995)
GDP per capita:
$1,620 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
18.3%
industry:
35.3%
services:
46.4% (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
25.8% (1995)
Labor force:
4.228 million (1993 est.)
by occupation:
agriculture 70%, transport and services 22%, industry 8%
Unemployment rate:
at least 45% (1994 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$1.7 billion
expenditures:
$2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $253 million (FY92/93)
Industries:
mining, steel, clothing and footwear, chemicals, foodstuffs, fertilizer, beverage, transportation equipment, wood products
Industrial production growth rate:
10% (1994)
Electricity:
capacity:
2,040,000 kW
production:
9 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
913 kWh (1993)
Agriculture:
corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs
Exports:
$2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities:
agricultural 35% (tobacco 30%, other 5%), manufactures 25%, gold 12%, ferrochrome 10%, textiles 8% (1992)
partners:
UK 14%, Germany 11%, South Africa 10%, Japan 7%, US 5% (1991)
Imports:
$1.8 billion (c.i.f., 1995 est.)
commodities:
machinery and transportation equipment 41%, other manufactures 23%, chemicals 16%, fuels 12% (1991)
partners:
South Africa 25%, UK 15%, Germany 9%, US 6%, Japan 5% (1991)
External debt:
$4.4 billion (1994)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $362 million (1993)
Currency:
1 Zimbabwean dollar (Z$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates:
Zimbabwean dollars (Z$) per US$1 -9.3633 (January 1996), 8.6580 (1995), 8.1500 (1994), 6.4725 (1993), 5.0942 (1992), 3.4282 (1991)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June
