Zimbabwe Raises 2025 Economic Growth Forecast to 6.6%

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube raised the 2025 economic growth forecast to 6.6%, citing agriculture, mining, manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and diaspora investment as key drivers while stressing transparency and investment readiness.

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has announced that the country’s economic growth projection for 2025 has been revised upwards to 6.6%. The announcement was made during the 4th Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON), where government officials outlined strategies to stimulate growth across key sectors.

Ncube emphasised that the country’s priorities would focus on agriculture, mining, manufacturing, digital infrastructure, and mobilising diaspora investment. These areas, he said, were critical to building resilience and advancing Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 development agenda, which seeks to transform the nation into an upper-middle-income economy within the next five years.

Officials from the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe highlighted the need to strengthen transparency and foster investor confidence to sustain momentum. They pointed to the importance of policy consistency and fiscal discipline in reassuring both local and international stakeholders.

The government has set ambitious targets to modernise agricultural production, expand value addition in mining, revitalise the manufacturing sector, and harness the potential of digital technologies. At the same time, greater efforts are being made to encourage remittances and diaspora-led investment as reliable drivers of economic stability.

Despite these promising forecasts, analysts caution that the real test lies in implementation. Persistent challenges—including limited access to capital, infrastructure bottlenecks, and governance concerns—have historically undermined Zimbabwe’s ability to translate growth projections into tangible improvements in citizens’ lives.

Economic experts have also raised questions about whether ordinary Zimbabweans will see meaningful benefits from these policies. With unemployment and poverty still widespread, the government faces pressure to ensure that economic expansion delivers inclusive development rather than headline figures alone.

Ncube acknowledged these challenges but maintained that structural reforms currently underway would help sustain growth and improve livelihoods. He reiterated that investment in productive sectors, coupled with robust governance, would be central to achieving lasting progress.

For many Zimbabweans, however, the real measure of success will be whether projections on paper can be felt in their pockets. As one commentator at the conference noted, “Numbers inspire hope, but only delivery will silence doubt.”