The Africa Economic Development Strategies hosted the Mid-Term Economic Review and High-Level Policy Dialogue on July 2, 2026, at Cresta Lodge. The high-level gathering served as a stock-taking platform for the first six months of the fiscal year to analyse domestic trends, evaluate independent economic modelling and directly inform Zimbabwe’s forthcoming Mid-Term Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy review.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deputy governor Dr Innocent Matshe assured delegates at the forum that the central bank remained committed to protecting economic stability gains, ensuring the market retains its newfound predictability.
Africa Economic Development Strategies executive director Prof Gift Mugano called on Treasury to create stronger demand for the local currency through tax policy changes in the mid-term budget review expected later this month to accelerate the transition to a mono-currency system.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu, represented by the Ministry’s Acting Director, Ruvimbo Sandauke, said government is intensifying efforts to promote local products and reduce reliance on imports that are draining billions of dollars from the economy and straining national budgets.
Africa Economic Development Strategies board chairman Dr Farai Matanhire said the economy was showing broad-based resilience despite severe pressures from global geopolitical fragmentation and trade disputes.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said authorities should ensure that the local currency is entrenched in the local agricultural value chain.
Economist Brains Muchemwa commended the growing culture of discipline among policymakers, noting that the resulting economic stability is historic and represents a significant departure from previous years.
The forum brought together business executives, policymakers, monetary authorities and government officials, who emphasised that maintaining discipline was now vital to accelerating investment across all value chains and driving industrialisation.
The dialogue was hosted by AEDS under the theme: Geopolitical Risks: implication for Zimbabwe and Policy Options. The dialogue provided a review of the state of the economy in the first quarter and the 2026 economic outlook. In addition, the dialogue also provided robust discussions on the US-Israel war with Iran and its impact on the global economy and Zimbabwe with emphasis placed on production and consumption, the prices of goods and services, and fertilizer and fuel prices at global, continental, and regional levels.
The Honourable Minister of Industry and Commerce was the guest of honour. The event also received presentations from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, and AEDS. The dialogue was attended more than 100 people from the business community, government, academia, media houses and think tanks. The research output was disseminated through a presentation of the Second Edition of the Zimbabwe Economic Pulse (First Quarter 2026 Review), focusing on the real-time evaluation of Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory and highlighting a broadly positive yet fragile outlook anchored on projected economic growth of 5%, driven by strong agricultural recovery, firm gold prices, and improved macroeconomic stability.
The report underscores significant gains in inflation reduction to single-digit levels, supported by tight monetary policy, exchange rate stability, and disciplined liquidity management, alongside improved fiscal consolidation despite persistent structural pressures such as debt servicing and expenditure rigidities. The report further analyses sectoral performance, noting resilience in mining and agriculture, mixed outcomes in manufacturing due to high production costs and power shortages, and a gradual recovery in tourism. Importantly, it identifies key downside risks including geopolitical tensions (notably the US–Iran conflict), rising oil prices, climate shocks, energy constraints, and entrenched dollarization. The report argues that sustaining stability will require continued fiscal and monetary discipline, structural reforms, export diversification, and strengthened confidence in the local currency.
AEDS hosted the inaugural state of the economy dialogues focusing on the 2025 economic review and 2026 economic outlook on 22 January 2026 and 29 January 2026 at Rainbow Towers (Harare) and Churchill Hotel (Bulawayo), respectively. At these dialogues, AEDS launched its first edition of the Zimbabwe Economic Pulse (ZEP), a flagship report of the Africa Economic Development Strategies that provides hard facts, granular information, and forecasts on the country’s economic prospects, grounded in rigorous economic inquiry and analysis.
The ZEP seeks to address a fundamental lacuna – the absence of independent, evidence-based perspectives on the state of the economy and its prospects – by anchoring its analysis in economic modelling, deep analysis of existing data, and the generation of robust insights. The report was disseminated at the dialogue, offering an analysis of global and domestic economic 22 January 2026 Rainbow Towers, Harare 29 January 2026, Churchill Hotel, Bulawayo developments.
With respect to global economic developments and outlook, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of growth and inflation trends in advanced economies, emerging markets and Sub- Saharan Africa within the context of geopolitical developments and key economic determinants such as climate-induced risks, inflation, and demand and supply dynamics, as well as their implications for Zimbabwe. Additionally, developments on international commodities and their impact on the Zimbabwean economy were provided.
With respect to the Zimbabwean economic affairs, the ZEP delved deep into the real sector, fiscal developments, monetary and exchange rate developments, financial markets developments, external sector and public debt. Most critically, as part of the analysis of domestic economic developments, this dialogue presentation reviewed the performance of socio-economic development indicators which, inter alia, include: poverty levels, stunting growth rates, unemployment, health, education, quality of life and population metrics.
AEDS hosted the closed door Indaba on Grain Revolution on the 15 th of January 2026 at Rainbow Towers, Harare focusing on undertaking a 360 degree dialogue on the grains and oils sectors with a view to showcasing the state of the grains and oils subsector, major developments in the sector, robust review of the existing policies (including SI 87 of 2025), opportunities, challenges and possible remedies. The main output of the Closed Door Indaba was a research paper presented on the ecosystem of the grain and oil seeds value chains.
The research paper focused on: (a) trends in production of grains with specific emphasis on maize, wheat and traditional grains; (b) trends in imports of grains and oil seeds and their implication on the Zimbabwean economy; (c) investment opportunities that exist in the grains and oils subsectors, challenges and policy options; (d) role of the industry and value chain actors in respect of localisation of grains and oil, opportunities for expansion, challenges and policy options; (e) reviewing the competitiveness of the grains and oils value chains; (f) evaluating the effectiveness of the existing financing models and the efficacy of the AMA bills; (g) unpacking the SI 87 of 2025 and its implications on the grains and oil seeds value chains; and (h) establishing stakeholders’ concerns on the SI 87 of 2025 and come up with practical remedies that address perennial import bills on agricultural commodities.
