Zimbabwe's economy to grow by 7.4pc in 2021: minister

Harare,

Zimbabwe's finance minister on Friday said the country's economy, battered by drought and the Covid-19 pandemic this year, would recover in 2021.

Presenting the 2021 pre-budget strategy paper in the capital, minister Mthuli Ncube said the economy was "confronted with climatic, macroeconomic and Covid-19 shocks" and is projected to contract by 4.5 per cent in 2020.

"From 2021, as with other global economies, the economy is expected to be out of the woods with a growth projection of 7.4 per cent, riding on expected improvement in the climatic and investment conditions and planned strategies and programmes."

Ncube said he expected 11.3 per cent growth in agriculture and 11 per cent in mining would spur GDP growth for next year.

He said annual inflation which currently stands at 659 per cent from a peak of 837 in July would end the year at 134 per cent.

Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn for over a decade characterized by scarcity of foreign currency.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from long-time ruler Robert Mugabe following a coup in 2017, pledged to revive the country's moribund economy and mend ties with its former trading partners in the west.

But economic woes which plagued Mugabe's rule have persisted.