Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
The Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) is seeking to transform the Agriculture Marketing Fund into a more active financing vehicle for Zimbabwe’s agricultural value chains, with the authority pushing for levies collected from the sector to be channelled back into production, infrastructure and market development.
Speaking at the National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026, AMA chief executive officer Alice Mapfiza said the Agriculture Marketing Fund, established under the AMA Act [Chapter 18:24], provides a framework through which resources generated within the agricultural sector can be mobilised and reinvested into the sector.
“Agriculture is the backbone of national food security and value chain funding is limited, and we all know it because we have been talking about it,” Mapfiza said.
“The AMA Act allows funds, it allows fees, it allows levies to come through that fund so that it is consolidated to finance and support all value chains in agriculture.”
The Agriculture Marketing Fund receives levies collected by AMA from producers, buyers and processors, with the authority already collecting levies from several agricultural value chains.
According to Mapfiza, the objective is to ensure that the resources support production, productivity, market access and linkages, rather than simply being collected without a direct connection to the development of the sectors from which they originate.
The AMA Act provides for the Fund to be financed through levies, appropriations and other approved sources, while its resources can be applied towards the development and marketing of agricultural products.
AMA has developed a fund management and governance framework under which administration costs are capped at 10% of funds collected, according to Mapfiza.
She said allocations would be informed by industry technical committees representing individual value chains before being considered by the Agriculture Marketing Fund management structures.
“This is done through the industry technical committee for each value chain, which then feeds into the agriculture marketing fund management committee,” she said.
The proposed framework places emphasis on transparency, market-driven decision-making, equitable distribution, public reporting and independent monitoring and evaluation.
Mapfiza said the resources could support production, market and trade facilitation, infrastructure development, quality and standards, innovation, climate and risk management, farmer empowerment, value addition and export promotion.
A key part of the proposed model is the revival of agricultural financing instruments backed by predictable receipts flowing into the fund.
AMA is looking at using levies and fees, alongside potential seed capital from Government, development partners and syndicated funding from banks, to create financing structures for individual value chains.
“We need predictable receipts to come through the AMA so that when the monies flow into AMA, people will not question to say, where will the money come from?” Mapfiza said.
She said value-chain participants would need to agree on how the fund should be used, with farmers, processors, traders and other players participating in the process.
“The industry, like I said, needs to, from the farmer to the processor, to say, why do we need this fund? All of us need to be in agreement. And what does it deliver?” she said.
The authority is also seeking to demonstrate the practical application of the fund through projects such as irrigation development.
Mapfiza said resources raised through levies were already being directed towards irrigation development, with up to 35 irrigation schemes either completed or at various stages of implementation.
The broader ambition is for the Agriculture Marketing Fund to become a mechanism through which resources generated by agricultural activity are continuously reinvested into the sector.
“Every dollar collected from the sector should be reinvested into its growth, benefiting farmers, processors, traders, consumers, and the nation at large,” Mapfiza said.
The initiative comes as AMA continues to reposition itself beyond its traditional regulatory role towards market coordination and agricultural value-chain development.
The authority describes its mandate as covering the regulation, development and administration of agricultural production and marketing.
The AMA leadership has also identified the need for a more market-oriented agricultural system, with Mapfiza previously describing the authority’s role as moving towards being a strategic market intelligence hub, value-chain coordinator and catalyst for agricultural transformation.
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Zimbabwe needs to integrate agricultural finance, insurance, warehouse receipts and institutional capital to close the sector’s persistent funding gap and unlock the next phase of agricultural growth, CBZ Agro-Yield chief executive officer Collins Mpofu has said.
Speaking at the National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026 in Harare, Mpofu said Zimbabwe’s agricultural financing challenge was not simply a shortage of money, but the need to develop financing models that reduce risk and link funding directly to production and markets.
“The frontier is integration, connecting value-chain finance, receipts, institutional capital and insurance into one stack,” Mpofu said.
His comments come as the agricultural sector faces a substantial funding gap. According to the CBZ Agro-Yield presentation, the 2024/25 agricultural season required about US$1.6 billion, while banks pledged approximately US$500 million.
However, only about US$200 million of the pledged funding had reached farmers by January 2025.
Mpofu said market-linked financing models were proving more effective because repayment was structured around the agricultural value chain rather than relying solely on traditional collateral.
“Key insight: repayment follows structure, not intent — build finance around the value chain and recovery follows,” he said.
The CBZ Agro-Yield presentation identified value-chain finance, contract farming, warehouse receipts, institutional and pension capital, insurance and donor-supported de-risking facilities as important channels for expanding agricultural funding.
Under value-chain financing, banks provide funding across the production chain, including inputs, agronomy and insurance, with repayment linked to crop deliveries.
Contract farming similarly allows contractors to finance inputs against future crop deliveries.
Mpofu said Zimbabwe could also make greater use of agricultural commodities as collateral through warehouse receipt financing.
Under the model, grain stored in certified warehouses generates a negotiable receipt which can be used to access credit or facilitate trading through the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange.
The presentation noted that warehouse receipts had accumulated US$171.7 million in value by October 2024, although the volumes remained relatively small compared with national grain intake.
Institutional investors could also play a larger role in agricultural financing. Mpofu said the pension industry had assets of about US$2.63 billion as of June 2025, with a 20% prescribed-asset floor providing potential space for investment in agricultural instruments.
“AFC Agrobills” and other agricultural instruments could help channel longer-term domestic capital into the sector, while insurance and guarantees could absorb some of the risks that have traditionally discouraged lenders.
Mpofu said climate risk remained one of the biggest constraints to agricultural lending, particularly following the 2023/24 El Niño drought, which saw agricultural output contract sharply and increased the food import bill.
The CBZ presentation noted that fewer than 5 percent of smallholder farmers had crop insurance, highlighting the need to mainstream insurance within agricultural financing.
“Insurance in every facility, receipts as collateral, institutions as funders,” the presentation states in outlining the strongest financing structure.
Mpofu also identified land tenure, the cost of credit, currency transition and limited access to formal financial services among the structural constraints that needed to be addressed.
The presentation noted that fewer than 40% of smallholders used formal financial services, while women and young farmers faced some of the widest financing gaps.
To close the gap, Mpofu proposed six practical interventions: completing the rollout of title deeds, mainstreaming agricultural insurance, deepening warehouse receipts and the commodity exchange, attracting institutional capital, localising export value-chain finance and digitising the last mile.
He said Zimbabwe already had many of the components needed to transform agricultural finance and should now focus on integrating them and taking them to scale.
“The opportunity is integration and scale, not experimentation,” the presentation states.
Mpofu said such an approach would enable Zimbabwe to mobilise more domestic capital, improve smallholder inclusion and strengthen the resilience of agricultural production while supporting the sector’s targeted expansion to a US$15.8 billion economy by 2030.
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) has assured the country that basic food commodities will remain stable and available despite recurring climate shocks and global supply chain disruptions.
Speaking at the National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026, GMAZ Chairman Dr Tafadzwa Musarara said private millers have established a robust regional pipeline to supply maize, wheat, and rice to meet domestic demand through the ongoing El Niño cycle.
“To the nation, I use this opportunity to say that there will be no shortages in the next few years,” Dr Musarara said.
“The net position of Southern Africa at the moment, the main supply net position is that there is a surplus. There is a surplus in Malawi, surplus in South Africa, surplus in Zambia. Only here were we the epicenter of the drought.”
Under the association’s import strategy, millers plan to procure 1.6 million tonnes of maize between now and August 2027, with procurement projections extending through 2028.
Dr Musarar said monthly import targets include 110,000 metric tonnes of maize, 65,000 metric tonnes of wheat, and 30,000 metric tonnes of rice.
To secure maize stocks, he said millers are prioritising imports from Zambia, where non-GMO maize prices have dropped, supported by the Food Reserve Agency in Lusaka, alongside imports from South Africa to supply the southern region.
Addressing consumer pricing, Dr. Musarara emphasised that the private sector’s primary goal is market stability.
He said GMAZ aims to keep the daily demand of 1.8 million to 2 million loaves supplied at $1 per loaf, while keeping mealie meal prices between $5 and $5.50 per bag.
He highlighted that GMAZ has engaged both the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to streamline logistics and import licensing frameworks.
To overcome shipping delays linked to global geopolitical friction, the association is lobbying authorities to extend import license validity beyond the current three-month limit, particularly for wheat shipments originating from Russia.
Dr Musarara commended the Grain Marketing Board for its strong market performance in pricing and farmer payments, while welcoming the government’s commitment to a private-sector-led agricultural economy.
Since 2020, he said GMAZ members have spent over $1.8 billion importing maize, wheat, and rice to secure the country’s food pipeline.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development has called on the private sector to lead Zimbabwe’s agricultural resilience strategy, warning that reactive crisis management is no longer viable in the face of recurring El Niño climate shocks.
Opening the National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri said previous dry spells have drained national coffers, citing a historical baseline to demonstrate the financial toll.
“We are meeting at this juncture when it’s all looking gloomy for the agricultural industry because of the El Niño that is coming. We know from 2020 that we have spent more than US$308 million responding to food issues as a result of these drought periods,” Prof Jiri warned.
He pointed out that the impending weather shock coincides with volatile global supply lines and erratic input markets, complicating national food security efforts.
“We have also seen an escalation of constraints owing to disturbances, these geopolitical disturbances, which have led to disruptions in supply lines. We are meeting at a time when we are seeing that fertiliser prices are very unstable and availability of fertiliser is also very questionable,” he said.
To address the drought concerns, he said the government’s response framework centres on six core priorities, namely an enhanced strategic grain reserve strategy, climate-smart production, an enhanced financial architecture, enhanced livestock mitigation strategies, enhanced grain imports, and enhanced coordination alongside early warning systems.
Prof Jiri said that while the state will facilitate policy frameworks, the private sector must drive capital deployment and operational execution across value chains.
“This is where this conference becomes extremely important. Our agriculture must be private sector-led, and the government facilitated,” Prof Jiri told delegates.
“The opportunities across the agricultural value chains from input supply to processing, logistics to finance, are immense. I call upon you to invest, innovate and partner with the government in building a resilient agricultural economy.”
The two-day conference includes the presentation of a State of the Agriculture Sector study conducted by Africa Economic Development Strategies, detailing bankable projects across priority value chains, investment pitches, and policy interventions.
Prof Jiri urged farmers to adopt adaptive techniques to preserve household food security over the next 12 months by embracing climate-smart agriculture, diversifying production, and keeping household grain reserves.
He added that development partners, researchers, and financial institutions must align their interventions with national targets under Vision 2030 to build a food-secure and prosperous economy.
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Electricity supply is becoming a central consideration in Zimbabwe’s agricultural development plans, with the power utility working with government to anticipate rising demand from irrigation, processing and other activities across the sector.
The National Agriculture Conference and Expo 2026 heard that the country’s agricultural ambitions could not be achieved without corresponding investment in electricity infrastructure and alternative generation.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Conference, ZESA’s Engineer John Chikeya said the energy sector’s role was to support the expansion of productive sectors, particularly agriculture.
“As ZETDC, we are a key developer. Our success is not reflected in our success. It’s reflected in the success of those that we support,” he said.
He said the government had brought the agriculture and energy ministries together through an inter-ministerial committee to align power supply with agricultural development.
“We then established an inter-ministerial committee in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Energy to say, this is what you want. This is what we have. How can we get there?” he said.
One of the outcomes has been the recognition of electricity as a key agricultural input.
“Through the inter-ministerial committee, it was agreed that electricity was going to be treated as a key input,” Engineer Chikeya said.
This is significant as Zimbabwe expands irrigation and seeks to increase agricultural output. Irrigation systems require dependable electricity for pumping, while processing, refrigeration and other agricultural value-chain activities also depend on consistent power.
The utility said the reduction in disruptions experienced by the agricultural sector was the result of greater coordination and technical consistency.
“It’s just the technical consistency that comes with the availability of electricity,” Engineer Chikeya said.
But maintaining that progress remains a challenge.
Zimbabwe’s power system remains exposed to fluctuations in hydroelectric generation, particularly at Kariba, while ageing infrastructure requires continued rehabilitation and reinforcement.
“In terms of the security of supply, we are failing. But we are not yet out of that,” he said.
The challenge has increased the urgency of diversifying the country’s electricity mix.
Distributed solar generation is already making a growing contribution, with the panel reporting that installed distributed generation had reached 147MW.
“And that means that Zimbabwe are now contributing to the energy security,” Engineer Chikeya said.
The utility is also looking at mechanisms that would allow more households and businesses to generate electricity and feed it into the grid.
The development of advanced net metering could create opportunities for private investment in small-scale electricity generation while increasing the amount of power available to the national system.
However, farmers at the conference highlighted another major issue — the cost of electricity.
Delegates argued that high electricity tariffs increase production costs and ultimately affect the competitiveness of agricultural products.
Engineer Chikeya acknowledged the concern but said tariff reductions had to be implemented alongside improvements in the reliability of supply.
“We are very conscious of the pain that comes from a high tariff, and we have a trajectory to then reduce it,” he said.
He cautioned that lowering tariffs without resolving the underlying infrastructure challenges could undermine the reliability of supply.
“We don’t want to reduce the tariff today and then bring back load shedding,” he said.
The utility is therefore pursuing a longer-term approach centred on network rehabilitation, additional generation and greater use of alternative energy.
For agriculture, the issue extends beyond simply keeping the lights on. Reliable electricity is increasingly necessary for irrigation, processing and value addition as Zimbabwe seeks to move towards a more productive and commercially oriented agricultural sector.
Engineer Chikeya said the energy sector would need to continue working with agriculture to anticipate future demand.
“We need to continue with the relationship where we plan together and anticipate the growth in demand in the agricultural sector so that we prepare adequately to continue supporting that,” he said.
The message from the conference was that agricultural expansion and energy planning will increasingly need to move together, with investment in generation and distribution becoming an important part of the country’s broader agricultural transformation agenda.
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Zimbabwe is turning to its existing dams as a major source of new agricultural production, with authorities seeking to unlock underutilised water infrastructure and accelerate irrigation development as part of efforts to strengthen food security and climate resilience.
The strategy is anchored on a new approach that treats dams as broader economic assets rather than stand-alone water projects, the National Agriculture Conference and Expo 2026 heard.
Speaking during the discussions at the Conference, ZINWA Water Supply Services Manager Stanley Nazombe said the country had historically developed dams without simultaneously putting in place all the infrastructure required to derive maximum economic value from them.
He said this had resulted in some dams being completed while irrigation, water supply and other complementary facilities were developed separately or delayed.
“There was a mismatch that would happen between other activities that would also accompany the dam construction,” Nazombe said.
The new approach seeks to eliminate that fragmentation by ensuring that the development of a dam is linked to the economic activities that depend on it.
“As government now, there’s been a shift where now the dam is being taken as a component that enables other components to happen,” he said.
Under the model, a completed dam would be linked to water supply, irrigation, fisheries and, where feasible, hydropower generation.
“There are five components within the dam as an economy that we have. These are dams, the water supply, the irrigation facility, fisheries and the hydropower project,” Nazombe said.
The approach comes as government seeks to rapidly expand irrigation capacity and make agriculture less dependent on rainfall.
According to Nazombe, significant potential exists within existing dams, allowing the country to expand irrigation without relying exclusively on new dam construction.
He said the immediate focus would be on existing infrastructure with capacity to support additional irrigation.
“There is a significant number of dams that have been lying underutilised,” he said.
The strategy is particularly important given the impact of drought on agricultural production. Expanding irrigation would allow farmers to maintain production even when rainfall patterns become unreliable.
Nazombe said the wider objective was to ensure that water infrastructure also responded to the challenges posed by climate change.
The government’s irrigation ambitions, however, will require substantial capital beyond the resources available from Treasury.
Asked whether the accelerated programme would be financed directly by government, Nazombe said private investment would be essential.
“That will certainly not be achieved through government on its own,” he said.
“It allows other players also to come into play and allow for partnership with government so that we are able to ensure that it is achieved.”
The call for private-sector participation comes as Zimbabwe seeks to attract investment into infrastructure that can generate returns through agriculture, water supply, fisheries and energy.
Participants at the conference nevertheless raised concerns over the clarity of public-private partnership arrangements, particularly where private investors develop infrastructure that is eventually expected to be transferred to Government.
A clearer investment framework would be important for providing investors with certainty over how projects are managed and how ownership arrangements are handled.
For farmers, the development of irrigation infrastructure would provide greater certainty over production and reduce exposure to drought-related losses.
For government, the approach could allow existing public infrastructure to generate greater economic value.
Nazombe said increased investment was necessary to strengthen the country’s water security.
“We need to put more investment in that light so that our level of security is increased from what it currently is,” he said.
The strategy therefore shifts the focus from simply constructing more dams to maximising the productive potential of water infrastructure already available while ensuring new projects are designed as integrated economic systems.
Players in the agricultural sector are set to convene tomorrow for the opening of the National Agriculture Conference and Expo 2026, as the industry faces severe climate headwinds ahead of the upcoming summer cropping season.
Hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, in partnership with Africa Economic Development Strategies and the Agricultural Marketing Authority, the two-day event runs from 24 to 25 September under the theme Transforming Agriculture for Resilience, Investment, and Inclusive Growth.
The conference comes at a critical juncture for Zimbabwe’s economy. The agriculture sector accounts for roughly 10% of gross domestic product and provides livelihoods for over half of the national workforce.
The sector remains the foundation for industrial raw materials and foreign currency earnings via cash crops like tobacco and cotton.
However, recurring weather volatility, structural deficit import bills, and production deficits in major staples continue to weigh heavily on national fiscal buffers.
According to the Meteorological Services Department seasonal outlook, Zimbabwe faces a high probability of below-normal rainfall for the 2026/27 summer cropping season.
Driven by the El Niño weather phenomenon, rainfall deficits are projected to be most acute during the crucial October-to-December planting period, heightening dry-spell risks and threatening crop development.
The conference targets two primary structural policy outcomes, namely establishing a disruptive localisation strategy to eliminate Zimbabwe’s US$2 billion agricultural import bill, and deploying a transformative growth strategy to position the country as a regional food hub.
Delegates, policymakers, and private investors are expected to deliberate on climate-smart financing, irrigation infrastructure development, drought-resilient seed technologies, and localized supply-chain strategies to mitigate the impact of the projected drought.
The upcoming National Agriculture Conference and Expo (NACE) 2026 discussions will be dominated by severe climate threats and El Niño mitigation strategies, following a grim seasonal forecast issued by the Meteorological Services Department (MSD).
Hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development in collaboration with the Agricultural Marketing Authority and Africa Economic Development Strategies, the two-day high-level conference takes place from September 24 to 25, 2026, at the Diamond Conference Centre at the University of Zimbabwe.
The focus on climate adaptation comes as the MSD’s 2026/27 Seasonal Climate Outlook forewarns of widespread below-normal rainfall, driven by a persisting El Niño phase and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole.
The weather agency reported an increased probability of below-normal rainfall nationwide from October to December 2026.
While southern and western regions may see normal-to-below-normal totals between January and March 2027, the remainder of the country will remain trapped in below-normal conditions.
According to the MSD, the upcoming farming season is projected to mirror the historic dry spells of the 2015/16 and 2023/24 analogue seasons, characterised by a widespread failure of the seasonal onset and erratic rain distribution.
In response to the climate outlook, conference deliberations will align directly with the Ministry of Agriculture’s strategic drought mitigation pillars designed under the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy.
The strategic pillars centre on enhancing the Strategic Grain Reserve, accelerating climate-smart production and irrigation development, expanding agricultural mechanisation, incentivising cereal production, strengthening rural livestock and horticulture resilience, and expanding agricultural insurance and financing models.
Delegates will focus on operationalising the government’s climate-proofing initiatives, including 100 percent adoption of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa conservation agriculture model matched strictly to agro-ecological zones, alongside rapid expansion under the Accelerated Irrigation Rehabilitation and Development Plan.
Running under the theme “Transforming Agriculture for Resilience, Investment, and Inclusive Growth,” the conference will also see the presentation of the State of the Agricultural Sector Study.
Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Dr Anxious Masuka says agriculture must serve as the primary catalyst for industrialisation and broader macroeconomic expansion.
Speaking during a high-level ministerial panel at the recent Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo 2026, Dr Masuka underscored that sustainable economic growth remains intrinsically tied to performance in the primary sector.
“Agriculture is a causal co-factor and multiplier effect on the rest of the economy. Other than providing the raw materials and fuel that keep us healthy, a healthy nation will be more productive. If we get agriculture right, we are likely to get every other sector and value chain right,” Dr Masuka said.
The government is prioritising structural reforms designed to expand the agricultural sector’s economic footprint under the second phase of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy.
“Within the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2026-2030, we want to create a US$15.8 billion sector from the current US$13 billion or so, and we can only do this if we work together,” he said.
Dr Masuka noted that recurrent climate-induced disruptions pose the single greatest threat to sector productivity and national food security, necessitating deliberate structural adaptations across all farming scales.
“Climate change is the biggest threat that we see in agriculture, and our adaptive and mitigation response is to have a climate-smart agriculture sector sufficiently resilient to withstand the episodic shocks that are caused by droughts. Droughts now visit us every three to four years, more often than in the past,” Dr Masuka said.
With meteorological assessments pointing toward heightened climate risks, the government has instituted targeted interventions across six foundational pillars to insulate domestic production.
“For this season, 2026/2027, there is a 100% probability that we will have an El Niño, the magnitude of which we do not know at this stage. But if we plan for the worst and hope for the best, government has come up with a very robust plan anchored on six pillars,” Dr Masuka said.
He outlined these interventions as an enhanced strategic grain reserve, climate-smart agricultural production, livestock drought mitigation, a revamped financing architecture for agriculture, an updated import management regime, and enhanced early warning coordination and capacity building.
To achieve these targets, he said the agriculture ministry is implementing five overarching guiding principles across the sector.
“The first one is that agriculture must be a business everywhere, irrespective of scale. The second one is climate-smart agriculture at the household level through the sustainable intensive conservation agriculture model, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, and at the national level through increased irrigation development.
“The third is value addition. The fourth is a systems or ecosystem approach. Agriculture alone is not the enterprise on a farm, there are so many other enablers, and in the ministry, we track about 22 enablers including power, finance, logistics, land, and much more,” Dr Masuka said.
Highlighting the final principle, Dr Masuka stated that the ultimate policy objective extends beyond traditional primary output toward complete industrial integration.
“The fifth and perhaps most important principle embedded in the strategy is that Zimbabwe does not yearn to become a breadbasket of anyone anymore. Zimbabwe must emerge by 2030 as an agro-industrial hub,” Dr Masuka said.
He said Zimbabwe is strategically positioned to serve as a thriving agro-industrial hub due to its central location in Southern Africa, strong logistics network, favourable climate, fertile soils, and exceptional talent.
The Minister said the core advantages form the foundation of the country’s push toward agro-industrialisation, which is key to achieving its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income nation.
The policy imperatives come ahead of the National Agriculture Conference and Expo, scheduled for September 24–25, 2026, at the Diamond Conference Centre at the University of Zimbabwe.
Stakeholders will gather to refine strategies aimed at curbing the nation’s agricultural import bill and strengthening regional value chains.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Zimbabwean authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on policies required to complete the second review under the country’s 10-month Staff-Monitored Programme.
The agreement follows a mission to Harare from September 7 to 17, 2026. The agreement marks a crucial milestone in Zimbabwe’s efforts to stabilise its macroeconomic environment and build a track record toward debt restructuring and re-engagement with international creditors.
Led by IMF mission chief Wojciech Maliszewski, the visiting team evaluated Zimbabwe’s economic performance and confirmed that program implementation through the end of June 2026 was robust.
All quantitative and indicative targets were met, with the exception of the indicative target on protected social and priority spending.
“Completion of the review would mark a further step in consolidating macroeconomic stability and building a track record toward arrears clearance, debt restructuring, and re-engagement with the international community,” the IMF said in a statement.
The Bretton Woods institution said Zimbabwe’s economy expanded by 8.3% in 2025 and is projected to grow by 5% in 2026.
Annual inflation fell to a low single-digit rate of 2.9% in August 2026, driven by tight monetary policy from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and relative exchange rate stability.
It added that the country’s current account is also expected to remain in surplus for the remainder of the year, bolstered by strong export receipts and remittance inflows.
Economic growth is expected to moderate to 3.5 percent in 2027 due to the anticipated impact of a super El Niño event, though the projection factors in planned government mitigation efforts.
The IMF noted that the outlook faces downside risks if climate conditions worsen or if government intervention measures experience delays.
The lender said fiscal performance through the end of June exceeded expectations as a result of robust revenue collection, offering the Treasury an opportunity to build fiscal buffers while adhering to its approved budget.
However, the IMF expressed concern over the missed target for protected social and priority spending.
“The shortfall in protected social and priority spending remains a significant concern,” the IMF said.
“The missed target underscores the need to improve cash planning and budget execution so that approved resources reach priority programs and vulnerable households in a timely manner.”
On the monetary side, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has maintained a tight monetary policy stance to keep inflation low and contain foreign exchange market volatility.
The central bank has advanced the rollout of an electronic foreign exchange trading platform to enhance transparency and is developing a comprehensive strategy to further liberalise the currency market, strengthen monetary operations, and reform its foreign exchange intervention framework.
The IMF highlighted structural advances in public financial and debt management, including bringing US dollar payments within the public financial management system and finalising a framework for liability management operations.
Progress was also cited in governance initiatives, including the preparation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2 and the publication of financial statements for the Mutapa Investment Fund.
