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Remittances anchor Zimbabwean economy

THE World Bank recently released global diaspora remittance statistics, which show that expatriates from low and middle-income countries sent over US$647 billion to their home countries in 2022.This increase is remarkable, given the fact t…

Published: 07 Jul 2023 at 07:52hrs | 16 | by Victor Bhoroma

Reflecting on the export ban for raw lithium

Through Statutory Instrument 213 of 2022 (Referend to as Base Minerals Export Control for unbeneficiated Lithium Bearing Ores), Zimbabwe banned the export of raw lithium from the country. The regulation points that no lithium bearing ores,…

Published: 31 Jan 2023 at 09:12hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Analysis of the 2023 national budget

The Zimbabwean government presented a ZW$4.5 trillion budget (21% of 2021 GDP) for the 2023 fiscal year. The government expects to collect revenues totaling ZW$3.9 billion (18% of GDP), thus resulting in a budget deficit of ZW$0.6 trillion…

Published: 16 Dec 2022 at 00:15hrs | 16 | by Victor Bhoroma

Causes of food inflation in Zimbabwe

The World Bank recently released a report of the countries hardest hit by food inflation in the world. Zimbabwe tops that list with food inflation of 353% in the month of August 2022, beating Lebanon (240%), Venezuela (131%), and Sri Lanka…

Published: 16 Dec 2022 at 00:11hrs | 22 | by Victor Bhoroma

Government policy destroying the formal economy

Policy missteps and inconsistency has turned the Zimbabwean economy on its head against the formal sector, posing a threat to business continuity, domestic resource mobilization and formal employment. In the last 2 months, the government h…

Published: 16 Dec 2022 at 00:06hrs | 9 | by Victor Bhoroma

Tough foreign exchange regime suffocating economy

Zimbabwe's broad money supply has grown from just under ZW$364,60 billion as of September 2021 to more than ZW$1,920 trillion as of September 2022. This represents growth of over 426% over a period of less than 12-months. With the growth i…

Published: 16 Dec 2022 at 00:02hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Zimbabwe macroeconomic priorities for 2023

Zimbabwe's treasury department presented a ZW$4.5 trillion budget (21% of 2021 GDP) for the 2023 fiscal year. The budget roughly translates to US$5.3 billion if the market exchange rate is used. As is the case over the past 10 years, reven…

Published: 15 Dec 2022 at 23:53hrs | | by Victor Bhoroma

Policy flaws chasing Forex from the formal market

It is estimated that US$2.5 billion is circulating outside the formal banking system in Zimbabwe with households, businesses and foreign investors preferring to store their hard-earned foreign currency close to their pockets. Given a condu…

Published: 11 Aug 2022 at 12:05hrs | 15 | by Victor Bhoroma

Assessing the US$12 billion mining industry target

The Zimbabwean government launched an ambitious plan to transform the mining sector into a US$12 billion export industry by end of 2023. The plan was launched in October 2019 as a key pillar to sustainable economic growth. Achieving that t…

Published: 11 Aug 2022 at 12:01hrs | 6 | by Victor Bhoroma

Monetary policy inconsistency sinking economy

On the 17th of May 2022, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) issued a circular cancelling the order announced by the head of state on the suspension of bank lending one week earlier. The head of state had earlier pointed that the presidenti…

Published: 08 Jun 2022 at 07:19hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Food insecurity now a perennial threat

Zimbabwe is set to import 400 000 metric tonnes (MT) of Maize from Zambia and Malawi to be delivered this June to alleviate a food crisis in the country. This will cost the country at least US$120 million before haulage and other costs are…

Published: 08 Jun 2022 at 07:12hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Why Zimbabwe's de-dollarization route flopped

The Zimbabwean government has announced measures to promote the wider use of the domestic currency (The Zimbabwean Dollar) in a last-ditch effort to save it from the re-dollarization onslaught. Part of the measures now compel businesses an…

Published: 08 Jun 2022 at 07:08hrs | 21 | by Victor Bhoroma

IMF notes show no appetite for reform

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded its Article IV Consultation with Zimbabwe on 21 March 2022. The press release noted that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 6.3% in 2021 on the back of above nor…

Published: 12 Apr 2022 at 16:50hrs | 3 | by Victor Bhoroma

Towards a market driven foreign exchange market

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank made a press statement on the 1st of April to address the depreciation of the local currency and manage the rate of inflation in the economy. The announcements focus on managing specu…

Published: 12 Apr 2022 at 16:46hrs | 13 | by Victor Bhoroma

Zimbabwe economy urgently needs tax reforms

For the fourth consecutive year, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has been exceeding budgeted quarterly and annual revenue targets (in ZW Dollar and in US Dollar terms). Even though the economy declined by more than 12% in 2019 and 2…

Published: 01 Apr 2022 at 12:40hrs | 10 | by Victor Bhoroma

IMF notes show no appetite for reform

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded its Article IV Consultation with Zimbabwe on 21 March 2022. The press release noted that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 6.3% in 2021 on the back of above nor…

Published: 01 Apr 2022 at 12:34hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

Monetary Policy Analysis

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) presented its first monetary policy statement for 2022 on the 7th of February. The monetary policy comes after a 53.5% surge in foreign currency receipts from US$6.31 billion to US$9.69 billion. The major…

Published: 23 Feb 2022 at 19:41hrs | 13 | by Victor Bhoroma

Dutch Auction Market vs Local Allocation System

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) launched the Dutch auction system on the 23rd of June 2020 to improve transparency in the distribution of foreign currency locally. Initially the auction exchange platform was supposed to be backed by the…

Published: 23 Feb 2022 at 19:38hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Dutch Auction Market vs Local Allocation System

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) launched the Dutch auction system on the 23rd of June 2020 to improve transparency in the distribution of foreign currency locally. Initially the auction exchange platform was supposed to be backed by the…

Published: 04 Feb 2022 at 15:08hrs | 3 | by Victor Bhoroma

Key expectations from upcoming monetary policy

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is expected to present the first monetary policy statement of 2022 within the next 30 days amid rising inflationary pressures. The monetary policy comes after the deferment of the first foreign currency a…

Published: 19 Jan 2022 at 11:52hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

2022 Post Budget Analysis

The Zimbabwean government presented a ZW$927.3 billion budget (18% of GDP) for the 2022 fiscal year. The government expects to collect revenues totaling ZW$850.7 billion (17% of GDP), thus resulting in a budget deficit of ZW$76.5 billion w…

Published: 13 Dec 2021 at 09:11hrs | 10 | by Victor Bhoroma

Pegged exchange rate unsustainable

Zimbabwe's export receipts for the first 9 months of 2021 jumped 38% to US$6.10 billion from US$4.43 billion realized in the same period in 2020. Notable improvements have been realized in international remittances which grew by over 53% a…

Published: 24 Nov 2021 at 10:37hrs | 17 | by Victor Bhoroma

Policy incentives to reindustrialization lacking

Zimbabwe aspires to create an upper middle income economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$65 billion by 2030. This vision is premised on the reindustrialization strategy where competitiveness and regional integration are key in t…

Published: 24 Nov 2021 at 10:35hrs | 17 | by Victor Bhoroma

2022 National Budget Expectations

Zimbabwe's national budget for 2021 is expected to be presented within the coming 30 days amid fears of a resurgence in high levels of inflation. The country's annual inflation dropped from 363% recorded in January to 55% recorded in Octob…

Published: 01 Nov 2021 at 14:30hrs | 14 | by Victor Bhoroma

Investment still hampered by business climate

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Zimbabwe remains very low, with the latest central bank monetary policy stating that the country received a meagre US$22.35 million in the first half of 2021. In 2020, the FDI inflow figure declined to …

Published: 20 Oct 2021 at 18:33hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Taming inflation is an arduous task

The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) pointed that year on year (annual) inflation rate marginally increased to 51.55% in September 2021 from 50.24% in August 2021 after 8 months of straight decline from 363% recorded in Januar…

Published: 06 Oct 2021 at 09:13hrs | 11 | by Victor Bhoroma

Inside the cotton value chain

Cotton has been grown in Zimbabwe from as far back as 1940, even though production was enhanced after the establishment of the Cotton Marketing Board (CMB) in 1969. The white Gold is the second most important cash crop in Zimbabwe (After T…

Published: 09 Sep 2021 at 19:33hrs | 14 | by Victor Bhoroma

2021 Mid Term Monetary & Budget analysis

The latest mid-term budget and monetary policy statements were presented in a low key mode with emphasis on avoiding policy shocks that can rock the economy. The Zimbabwean government revised upwards the country's growth forecast from 7.4%…

Published: 01 Sep 2021 at 15:30hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

Inefficient auction system dragging economic recovery

Zimbabwe has managed to turnaround and achieve double digit annual inflation from a periodic high of 838% realized in July 2020 to 56% achieved in July 2021. The redollarization of the local economy and relative slow growth in money supply…

Published: 04 Aug 2021 at 15:57hrs | 3 | by Victor Bhoroma

Zimbabwe Economic Forecast H2 2021

Zimbabwe's economy is largely expected to register modest growth in 2021 buoyed by a bumper harvest in agriculture, partial dollarization and declining inflation, growth in export earnings and increase in industrial capacity utilization. T…

Published: 29 Jul 2021 at 13:30hrs | 16 | by Victor Bhoroma

Eradicating extreme poverty critically essential

The World Bank Economic Update on Zimbabwe released in June 2021 contains some worrying trends on the increase in extreme poverty in the country. The report points that the number of extremely poor reached 7.9 million in 2020 (Half of the …

Published: 29 Jul 2021 at 13:27hrs | 12 | by Victor Bhoroma

SI 127 ghost still haunting economy

After passing Statutory Instrument (SI) 127 of 2021 on the 26th of May 2021, the Zimbabwean government made a quick summersault on the new regulations through a press statement issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on the 15th of Ju…

Published: 14 Jul 2021 at 08:47hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

Short term risks for Zim economy

The Zimbabwean economy is expected to register modest growth this year after 2 years of successive decline when currency changes, high inflation, extreme weather conditions and COVID-19 downturn wrecked the local business environment. The …

Published: 03 Jun 2021 at 20:26hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

2021 Mid-Term Budget Expectations

Zimbabwe's mid-term budget for 2021 is expected to be presented in the beginning of July amid encouraging signs of economic recovery in the last 12 months. The country is undergoing a period of relative macroeconomic stability headlined by…

Published: 03 Jun 2021 at 20:21hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

Privatization plans off rails

In November 2018, the Zimbabwean government set out a privatization plan to dispose completely and partially privatize over 23 state entities and parastatals (SEPs). According to the Auditor General Report of 2017, at least 23 of the targe…

Published: 07 May 2021 at 15:41hrs | 3 | by Victor Bhoroma

Excessive taxation driving fuel prices up

On the 5th of April, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) announced new pump price ceilings for fuel on the local market. The maximum pump price for Diesel is now ZW$111.77 per litre, up from ZW$110.41 set a month ago while the …

Published: 19 Apr 2021 at 09:09hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Unresolved economic issues for 2021

The Zimbabwean economy has experienced a period of relative stability since October 2020, even though multiple reforms have to be implemented to attain sustained economic growth. To a larger extent the stability emanates from market re-dol…

Published: 19 Apr 2021 at 09:05hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

Central bank and monetary policy independence

The government of Zimbabwe recently dissolved the inaugural Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that had been appointed in September 2019 and swiftly appointed a new team to fill up the void. The committee draws its existence from the Reserve …

Published: 09 Mar 2021 at 22:34hrs | 5 | by Victor Bhoroma

Taming high inflation, economic priority

Despite the significant fall in annual inflation from 363% (In January) to 322% for the month of February 2021, prices for goods and services in the economy continue to increase marginally in every month. This is depicted by the rise in Co…

Published: 09 Mar 2021 at 22:31hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

Road infrastructure decay needs policy change

The pace of Zimbabwe's road infrastructure decay has reached alarming levels which call for a policy change by the government. The country's major highways and urban roads have become a living hazard to motorists and cargo due to successiv…

Published: 16 Feb 2021 at 14:34hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Proudly made in Zimbabwe

The advent of globalization has demonstrated that each country has expertise in a certain trade and there are commodities that resonate with certain countries more than others. It is often argued that to be successful in business, speciali…

Published: 02 Feb 2021 at 00:25hrs | 5 | by Victor Bhoroma

Poor grain production hurting Zimbabwe economy

Zimbabwe has been a net importer of food for the past 2 decades and the country's import bill has increasingly featured grain imports with maize imports averaging 1.1 million Metric Tonnes (MT) per year in the last 10 years, while wheat an…

Published: 25 Jan 2021 at 13:18hrs | 1 | by Victor Bhoroma

Exchange control regulations and export growth

The monetary policy committee for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) issued a circular with changes to export surrender requirements on the 7th of January 2021. The changes include immediately removing the compulsory requirement to liquida…

Published: 20 Jan 2021 at 06:30hrs | 5 | by Victor Bhoroma

Zimbabwe's economic outlook for 2021

Zimbabwe's economy ended the year 2020 on a fairly stable note due to the return of the multi-currency regime and decline in general inflation levels in the market. Headwinds caused by incessant power cuts, ill-timed currency changes, unre…

Published: 08 Jan 2021 at 21:02hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

The soft peg and local economic stability

Zimbabwe introduced the Dutch inspired foreign exchange auction system on the 23th of June to replace the fixed exchange rate (hard peg) of US$1: ZW$25 that had been in existence since 26 March 2020. It was noted at that time that the auth…

Published: 08 Jan 2021 at 20:58hrs | 4 | by Victor Bhoroma

Economic growth stimulus precedes taxation

Zimbabwe's 2021 national budget paints a picture of sustained austerity in the mid-term, with increases in taxes for various sectors of the depressed economy. A 126% jump in budgeted tax revenue collections from the ZW$173 billion anticipa…

Published: 22 Dec 2020 at 19:28hrs | 12 | by Victor Bhoroma

2021 National Budget: The Good & the Bad

Zimbabwe's 2021 national budget set a taxing agenda with a 126% jump in budgeted revenues from ZW$173 billion (About US$2.12 billion) anticipated in 2020 to ZW$391.8 billion (US$4.8 billion) budgeted for 2021. The high revenue target is su…

Published: 14 Dec 2020 at 13:54hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

Sector priorities for NDS implementation

Zimbabwe launched its new 5 year economic blueprint called the National Development Strategy (NDS-1) on 16 November 2020. The new plan succeeds the Transitional Stabilization Programme (TSP) that ends this year after running a 2-year relay…

Published: 01 Dec 2020 at 09:17hrs | 10 | by Victor Bhoroma

Partial dollarization to induce economic stability

The Zimbabwean economy has vaulted back to the multi-currency regime that prevailed between 2009 and 2018 with the US Dollar transactions gradually growing in the formal market while dominating trade in the informal sector. The countryâ€™s…

Published: 03 Nov 2020 at 14:25hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

From desert to business hub_Dubai economic story

Dubai is the capital city of the Emirate of Dubai, which in itself is one of the seven emirates (states) that form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The emirates are former British colonies which got independence in December 1971 and formed …

Published: 20 Oct 2020 at 14:01hrs | 2 | by Victor Bhoroma

Columnist / Victor bhoroma

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