| Economy - overview: The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide
variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles to consolidate
earlier moves to develop a market-oriented economy. Its involvement in the
war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, has already
drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. Badly needed
support from the IMF suffers delays in part because of the country's
failure to meet budgetary goals. Inflation rose from an annual rate of 32%
in 1998 to 59% in 1999 and 60% in 2000. The economy is being steadily
weakened by excessive government deficits and AIDS; Zimbabwe has the
highest rate of infection in the world. Per capita GDP, which is twice the
average of the poorer sub-Saharan nations, will increase little if any in
the near-term, and Zimbabwe will suffer continued frustrations in
developing its agricultural and mineral resources. GDP:
purchasing power parity - $28.2 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 0% (1999 est.), -6.1% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 28%
industry: 32%
services: 40% (1997 est.)
Population below poverty line: 60% (1999 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 46.9% (1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 59% (1999 est.)
Labor force: 5 million (1997 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 66%, services 24%, industry 10% (1996
est.)
Unemployment rate: 50% (1999 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2.5 billion
expenditures: $2.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $279 million (FY96/97
est.)
Industries: mining (coal, gold, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and
nonmetallic ores), steel, wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and
footwear, foodstuffs, beverages
Electricity - production: 6.97 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 78.19%
hydro: 21.81%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 8.403 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)
Electricity - imports: 1.921 billion kWh (1998)
Agriculture - products: corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane,
peanuts; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs
Exports: $2 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)
Exports - commodities: tobacco 23%, gold 14%, ferroalloys 7%, cotton 6% (1997
est.)
Exports - partners: South Africa 12%, United
Kingdom 11%, Germany 8%, Japan 6%, United
States 6% (1997
est.)
Imports: $2 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment 39%, other manufactures
18%, chemicals 15%, fuels 10% (1997 est.)
Imports - partners: South Africa 37%,
United Kingdom 7%, United States 6%, Japan 6%, Germany 5% (1997
est.)
Debt - external: $5 billion (1998)
Economic aid - recipient: $437.6 million (1995)
Currency: 1 Zimbabwean dollar (Z$) = 100 cents
SOURCE: The World Factbook |