fbpx

Five-Year Economic Plan Rolls Out in Zimbabwe

Five-Year Economic Plan Rolls Out in Zimbabwe

From Business Day Live

President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) has unveiled a five-year economic plan, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Transformation, which will form the bedrock of its attempt to spur economic growth, which has stalled in the past two years.

The economic policy highlights the party’s intention to look internally for solutions to revive the economy, and signals its frustration with the international community, which has been unwilling to do business with the newly elected government after it won re-election on July 31.

Upon implementation, economic growth is expected to average 7.3%, while forecast growth in 2018 is 9.9%.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a top Zanu (PF) loyalist, last week returned empty-handed from Washington, where he failed to persuade the International Monetary Fund to release lines of credit to support recovery.

Mr Mugabe is seen to be under increasing pressure to make good on a raft of election promises which include improving the material position of the country’s 230,000 public servants and rolling out the indigenisation programme to poor Zimbabweans.

Drawn up by Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Jonathan Moyo, who was also the key architect of Zanu (PF)’s election manifesto, the agenda has identified mining, agriculture, transport, information communication technology and infrastructural sectors as key drivers of the economic turnaround.

Read more at bdlive.co.za