GOVERNMENT says growth rates for this year will be lower than the projected 6,1% attributed to the poor performance of the mining sector.
VICTORIA MTOMBA
The revelation comes at a time the World Bank has revised downwards Zimbabwe’s growth projections. World Bank recently said the economy would grow by 2% this year.
Finance and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Economic Development on Monday that the economy would not grow by 6,1% this year.
“Maybe not six-point something, but not as what has been put out. I believe at the end of the day we will get the figures to say how much we expect,” Chinamasa said.
Chinamasa said the mining sector might pick up by year end as it was facing problems with the pricing of commodities.
“There might be growth in the [mining] sector before the end of the year and we are working very hard. I know [Mines and Mining Development] minister Chidhakwa is working very hard,” he said. Chinamasa said agriculture had so far performed well.
“The jury is not yet out. I would not want to give speculative figures until I got the figures. So far, I can confidently say agriculture has performed well notwithstanding the constraints. Let’s take tobacco for instance, the target was 180 million kg, but [sales] are now at 210 million kg [and] in terms of growth, that’s quite good,” he said.
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“There is surplus in maize, soya beans and sugar so agriculture did reasonably well. The expectation we had for agriculture, I think, will materialise.”
Agriculture is projected to grow by 9% due to the increase in the output of maize, cotton, tobacco, soya beans, groundnuts and other crops.
Presenting his 2014 Budget in December last year, Chinamasa said the economy was to record a strong growth of about 6,1% premised on a strong recovery in agriculture and improved performance in mining and construction. The figure was queried by economists arguing that it was too high considering the volatility of commodity prices on the international markets.
Chinamasa also told legislators that he had no capacity to attract funding from the international markets.
