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Zim economy has potential to grow says the World Bank
03 Jul 2012 at 05:46hrs | Views
The World Bank on Monday said the Zimbabwean economy has the potential to grow and become industrialised like most countries in Asia despite the challenges that it is going through.
Speaking at a one day policy seminar, former World Bank senior vice president for development economics and also chief economist Professor Justin Lin said the country's economy was poised for growth, reports Zimbabwe's New Ziana news agency.
"There is possibility for the Zimbabwean economy to become the best on the continent and become an African Tiger," he said.
"The economic transformation has large room to develop the country."
The seminar, which the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion together with Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit hosted, was running under the theme, "Policies for fostering growth in Zimbabwe: Lessons from East Asian Tigers."
Lin said most of the Asian countries who are now big players in the global economy were once like Zimbabwe.
"If a country experiences economic stagnation for years, right policies can change its fortunes. Most countries were poor at one point," he said.
He said the country should now target a seven percent economic growth for 25 years.
"China is what it is today because of a 9.9 percent growth rate for the past 32 years," Lin said.
Speaking at the same occasion, World Bank country manager, Nginya Mungai Lenneiye commended Zimbabwe for getting inspiration from East Asian economic development experiences.
Lenneiye said the experiences of East Asia during the times of high and low economic growth were relevant to Zimbabwe.
"Today's seminar is an important building block in a dialogue over what Zimbabwe could do not only to attain, but maintain a high rate of inclusive economic growth in the years to come," he said.
The Zimbabwean economy is recovering from over a decade of economic meltdown.
Speaking at a one day policy seminar, former World Bank senior vice president for development economics and also chief economist Professor Justin Lin said the country's economy was poised for growth, reports Zimbabwe's New Ziana news agency.
"There is possibility for the Zimbabwean economy to become the best on the continent and become an African Tiger," he said.
"The economic transformation has large room to develop the country."
The seminar, which the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion together with Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit hosted, was running under the theme, "Policies for fostering growth in Zimbabwe: Lessons from East Asian Tigers."
Lin said most of the Asian countries who are now big players in the global economy were once like Zimbabwe.
"If a country experiences economic stagnation for years, right policies can change its fortunes. Most countries were poor at one point," he said.
He said the country should now target a seven percent economic growth for 25 years.
"China is what it is today because of a 9.9 percent growth rate for the past 32 years," Lin said.
Speaking at the same occasion, World Bank country manager, Nginya Mungai Lenneiye commended Zimbabwe for getting inspiration from East Asian economic development experiences.
Lenneiye said the experiences of East Asia during the times of high and low economic growth were relevant to Zimbabwe.
"Today's seminar is an important building block in a dialogue over what Zimbabwe could do not only to attain, but maintain a high rate of inclusive economic growth in the years to come," he said.
The Zimbabwean economy is recovering from over a decade of economic meltdown.
Source - New Ziana
