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Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube is sticking to his growth estimate of 7,4 percent on the back of improved agricultural output this season.

The forecast is “achievable” after the country had good rains that will boost farm output to the highest in four years, Minister Ncube said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg Television.

The International Monetary Fund expects the economy to grow 3,1 percent this year, after contracting for the past two.

“Zimbabwe is coming through this recovery phase quite well,” Minister Ncube said. “Mining remains strong. Our infrastructure investment programme is also quite strong. There’s really a recovery across the board, except the tourism sector.”

However, President Mnangagwa said at the weekend the Treasury may “have to revise” its projection because of expectations that new waves of coronavirus infections will curtail economic output. 

The southern African nation has annual inflation of 241 percent. The Zimbabwe dollar now trades at $84 to the US dollar after being pegged at parity just two years ago. 

The gap between the official exchange rate and parallel market has widened by 36 percent, with a US dollar selling for 115 Zimbabwean dollars on the streets of Harare. 

The gap between the official rate and the parallel market rate is “within global norms,” Minister Ncube said. “It used to be as high as 300 percent.”  — Bloomberg/Business Reporter.