Economic and social indicators in Zimbabwe worsened significantly in 2008. Real GDP is estimated to have fallen by about 14 percent in 2008 owing to economic disruptions caused by hyperinflation and a further significant deterioration in the business climate. Executive Directors have welcomed the authorities’ Short-Term Emergency Recovery Program (STERP) that is based on sound principles of macroeconomic management. Directors have also underscored the importance of establishing fiscal discipline while ensuring the delivery of essential public services.
This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix analyzes recent trends in poverty and social indicators for Zimbabwe. It discusses land reform, agricultural policies, and the outcomes. The paper presents background information on the evolution of inflation and money aggregates in Zimbabwe. It analyzes the demand of money since the late 1990s, and discusses factors that can lead to diverging paths of inflation and money growth in the short term. The paper also analyzes Zimbabwe’s export performance in recent years, and identifies the factors that could improve export performance, from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.