Zimbabwe has a developing economy. It generates $149.68 billion within its formal economy in PPP terms which translates to 35.9% of the total economy. Agriculture and mining largely contribute to exports.
The country has reserves of metallurgical-grade chromite. Other commercial mineral deposits include coal, diamonds, lithium, asbestos, copper, nickel, gold, platinum and iron ore.
Since the end of the civil war in 1980, Zimbabwe has had a tumultuous economy, going from Africa's breadbasket to a country where, as of March 2025, over one-third of its population is facing food insecurity.
The sweeping impact of land reform In 2000, Zimbabwe launched a controversial land reform that, over the next decade, would seize about 6,000 large, white-owned farms and convert them into over 168,000 black-owned farms.Wurth, Margaret, and Jane Buchanan. A Bitter Harvest: Child Labor and Human Rights Abuses on Tobacco Farms in Zimbabwe. Human Rights Watch, 2018. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/zimbabwe0418_web_2.pdf pg. 24 Many of the new occupants, mainly consisting of landless black citizens and several prominent members of the ruling ZANU-PF administration, were inexperienced or uninterested in farming, thereby failing to retain the labour-intensive, highly efficient management of previous landowners, triggering severe export losses.
This policy of widespread seizure of private land and property spooked international investors and negatively affected market confidence. The US and other nations slapped sanctions on government officials due to the human rights abuses attributable to the land reform. Many sanctions continue to this day.
In this time, between 1999–2008, Zimbabwe's GDP shrunk by nearly half — the most severe downturn in a country not at war in recorded history.Joint Needs Assessment for Zimbabwe: Identifying Challenges and Needs, African Development Bank report, 2019 https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/2020/01/14/zimbabwe_country_portal.pdf
Hyperinflation and currency changes Between 2003–2006, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe began printing money at an extreme rate, causing inflation to spike by a factor of 1,000. By the middle of 2008, Zimbabwe hit a breaking point. Inflation hit 89.7 sextillion percentHanke, Steve, and Erik Bostrom. Zimbabwe Hyperinflates, Again: The 58th Episode of Hyperinflation in History. No. 90. The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, 2017. https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2018/07/Zimbabwe-Hyperinflates-Again-Hanke-Bostrom-.pdf — a $100 trillion bill didn't even cover a bus fare.
Shortly afterwards, the government introduced a multi-currency system, making U.S. dollars, and other currencies legal tender. The Zimbabwe dollar, now nearly worthless, disappeared from circulation.
After a period of relative economic stability, the government reintroduced local currency again in 2019, and quickly faced challenges in maintaining its value. At the time of its reintroduction, one loaf of bread cost between 2 and 3 Zimbabwean dollars. By 2024, the price had risen to 24,000 Zimbabwean dollars, roughly equivalent to 1 United States dollar.https://globalpressjournal.com/global-reports/zimbabwes-currency-woes/ Global Press Journal. Although the U.S. dollar remains officially tolerated, many vendors are reluctant to accept payments in local currency due to its instability.
In April 2024, the government launched a new currency, Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), to replace the Zimbabwean dollar. Claimed to be backed by the country's reserves of foreign currency and precious metals, primarily gold, the new currency aimed to curb inflation by preventing excessive money printing and to restore price stability. While ZiG has lost more than 95% of its value as of November 2025, the government continues to encourage its use. From April 2026 new banknotes will be issued to address complaints made about security and their previous tendency to wear.
Current economic conditions Government spending is 29.7% of GDP. State enterprises are strongly subsidized. Taxes and tariffs are high, and state regulation is costly to companies. Starting or closing a business is slow and costly. Due to the regulations of the labour market, hiring and terminating workers is a lengthy process. By 2008, an unofficial estimate of unemployment had risen to 94%.
As of 2023, Zimbabwe's official unemployment rate stood at 9.3%, though the vast majority of workers are in the informal sector, made up of low-paying, temporary and precarious jobs.Policy Brief: A Preliminary Assessment of the Socio-economic Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Zimbabwe, United Nations Development Programme Zimbabwe, June 2020. https://www.developmentaid.org/api/frontend/cms/file/2020/06/UNDP_ZW_Brief_Socioeconomic_impact_of_COVID-19.pdf
A 2014 report by the Africa Progress Panel found that, of all the African countries examined when determining how many years it would take to double per capita GDP, Zimbabwe fared the worst, and that at its current rate of development it would take 190 years for the country to double its per capita GDP. Uncertainty around the indigenisation programme (compulsory acquisition), the perceived lack of a free press, the possibility of abandoning the US dollar as official currency, and political uncertainty following the end of the government of national unity with the MDC as well as power struggles within ZANU-PF have increased concerns that the country's economic situation could further deteriorate.
In September 2016 the finance minister identified "low levels of production and the attendant trade gap, insignificant foreign direct investment and lack of access to international finance due to huge arrears" as significant causes for the poor performance of the economy.
Zimbabwe came 140 out of 190 ease of doing business report released by the World Bank Group. They were ranked high for ability to get credit (ranked 85) and protecting minority investors (ranked 95).
Economic sectors Agriculture
Agriculture in Zimbabwe can be divided into two parts: commercial farming of crops such as cotton, tobacco, coffee, peanuts and various fruits, and subsistence farming with staple crops, such as maize or wheat.
Commercial farming was almost exclusively in the hands of the white minority until the controversial land redistribution program began in 2000. Land in Zimbabwe was forcibly seized from white farmers and redistributed to black settlers, justified by Mugabe on the grounds that it was meant to rectify inequalities left over from colonialism. The new owners did not have land titles, and as such did not have the collateral necessary to access bank loans. The small-scale farmers also did not have experience with commercial-scale agriculture.
After land redistribution, much of Zimbabwe's land went fallow, and agricultural production decreased steeply. The University of Zimbabwe estimated in 2008 that between 2000 and 2007 agricultural production decreased by 51%. Production of tobacco, Zimbabwe's main export crop, decreased by 79% from 2000 to 2008.
Tobacco production recovered after 2008 thanks to the contract system of agriculture and growing Chinese demand. International tobacco companies, such as British American Tobacco and China Tobacco, supplied farmers with agricultural inputs, equipment, and loans, and supervised them in growing tobacco. By 2018, tobacco production had recovered to 258 million kg, the second largest crop on record. Instead of large white-owned farms selling mostly to European and American companies, Zimbabwe's tobacco sector now consists of small black-owned farms exporting over half of the crop to China. Tobacco farming accounted for 11% of Zimbabwe's GDP in 2017, and 3 million of its 16 million people depended on tobacco for their livelihood.
Land reform has found considerable support in Africa and a few supporters among African-American activists, but Jesse Jackson commented during a visit to South Africa in June 2006, "Land redistribution has long been a noble goal to achieve but it has to be done in a way that minimises trauma. The process has to attract investors rather than scare them away. What is required in Zimbabwe is democratic rule, democracy is lacking in the country and that is the major cause of this economic meltdown."Jesse Jackson lambastes Mugabe, SA banks , June 20, 2006. Zimbabwe Situation.
Zimbabwe produced, in 2018:
3,3 million tons of sugarcane; 730 thousand tons of maize; 256 thousand tons of cassava; 191 thousand tons of vegetable; 132 thousand tons of tobacco (6th largest producer in the world); 106 thousand tons of banana; 96 thousand tons of orange; 90 thousand tons of soy; 80 thousand tons of sorghum; 60 thousand tons of potato; 55 thousand tons of barley; 42 thousand tons of peanut; 38 thousand tons of cotton;
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.
Mining sector
As other southern African countries, Zimbabwean soil is rich in raw materials, namely platinum,Zimbabwe in Platinum Today, Johnson and Matthey. Accessed 12. Jan 2011. coal, iron ore, and gold. Recently, diamonds have also been found in considerable deposits. Copper, chromite and nickel deposits also exist, though in lesser amounts. The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006 are thought to be among the richest in the world.
In March 2011, the government of Zimbabwe implemented laws which required local ownership of mining companies; following this news, there were falls in the share prices of companies with mines in Zimbabwe.
Gold production year www.zimbabwesituation.com Mar 8, 2008 kg 1998 27,114 2007 7,017 2015 18,400
Various NGOs reported that the diamond sector in Zimbabwe is rife with corruption; a November 2012 report by NGO Reap What You Sow revealed a huge lack of transparency of diamond revenues and asserted that Zimbabwe's elite are benefiting from the country's diamonds. This followed former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s warning days earlier that Zimbabwe needed to stop its "predatory elite" from colluding with mining companies for their own benefit. Also in that month, the Associated Press reported that at least $2 billion worth of diamonds had been stolen from Zimbabwe's eastern diamond fields and had enriched Mugabe's ruling circle and various connected gem dealers and criminals.
In January 2013, Zimbabwe's mineral exports totalled $1.8 billion.
As of October 2014, Metallon Corporation was Zimbabwe's largest gold miner. The group is controlled by its Chairman Mzi Khumalo.
In 2019, the country was the world's 3rd largest producer of platinum and the 6th largest world producer of lithium. In the production of gold, in 2017 the country produced 23.9 tons.
Science and technology Zimbabwe's Second Science and Technology Policy (2012) cites sectorial policies with a focus on biotechnology, information and communication technologies (ICTs), space sciences, nanotechnology, indigenous knowledge systems, technologies yet to emerge and scientific solutions to emergent environmental challenges. The policy makes provisions for establishing a National Nanotechnology Programme.
Zimbabwe has a National Biotechnology Policy which dates from 2005. Despite poor infrastructure and a lack of both human and financial resources, biotechnology research is better established in Zimbabwe than in most sub-Saharan countries, even if it tends to use primarily traditional techniques.
The Second Science and Technology Policy asserts the government commitment to allocating at least 1% of GDP to research and development, focusing at least 60% of university education on developing skills in science and technology and ensuring that school pupils devote at least 30% of their time to studying science subjects.
Education