Zimbabwe's economy is forecast to grow by 2.5%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), amid a global economic growth slowdown.
The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook Growth Projections report forecast nearly a stagnant scenario over the next two years for the country's economy.
"Zimbabwe's economy is projected to grow at a rate of 2.5% and 2.6% between 2023 and 2024, respectively," the report states.
The predictions are far below the 3.8% figure set by Zimbabwe's Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, within the 2023 National Budget proposal, New Zimbabwe reports.
In previous forecasts, the World Bank had predicted a 3.6% growth rate for this year.
"The baseline forecast is for growth to fall from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023 before settling at 3% in 2024. Advanced economies are expected to see an especially pronounced growth slowdown, from 2.7% in 2022 to 1.3% in 2023.
"In a plausible alternative scenario with further financial sector stress, global growth declines to about 2.5% in 2023 with advanced economic growth falling below 1%," according to the IMF report.
"Global headline inflation in the baseline is set to fall from 8.7% in 2022 to 7% in 2023 on the back of lower commodity prices, but underlying (core) inflation is likely to decline more slowly," the report added.
The founding director of the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), Doctor Godfrey Kanyenze, said of the latest forecasts that the outlook isn't positive on Zimbabwe's economic challenges.
"It is very clear that the growth outlook is way below the figure of 5% projected in the National Development Strategy 1. It is even far lesser than the consistently required growth rate of 9% per annum since the inception of the economic reforms to attain the Upper Middle-Income Economic status is to see the light of the day in 2030," he stated.
Kanyenze added: "We need policy-driven growth as well as good quality growth, which is hinged on the creation of rich jobs. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing in our economy is accelerated de-industrialisation and rapid informalisation of the economy, which does so little in poverty alleviation," he said.
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