President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the government is implementing a comprehensive set of measures aimed at stabilizing prices, curbing speculative activities, and maintaining exchange rate stability.
Mnangagwa, who is also ZANU PF’s First Secretary, made the remarks while addressing the 375th session of the Politburo on Wednesday, 27 March. He said:
My Government is determined to implement responsive interventions towards arresting speculative activities, inflation, price increases, and stabilizing the exchange rate.
Equally important, our home-grown innovative solutions and hard honest work remain critical to increasing production and productivity in every sector.
This must see us continually improving the quality of life of our citizenry and ultimately realise Vision 2030.
On Wednesday, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) revealed that the country’s annual inflation rose to 55.3% in March from 47.6% in February 2024, which is a seventh-month high. Prices rose 4.9% in the month, compared with 5.4% in February.
The Zimbabwean dollar has depreciated against the United States dollar every trading day this year.
It weakened 72% in that period, making it the world’s second-worst-performing currency, after the Lebanese pound.
The President also said the government is putting in place necessary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the El-Nino-induced droughts. He said:
My Government will continue to roll out measures to address the negative effects of drought and climate change.
I challenge the party to take the lead at the cell/village level to keep our grassroots updated and knowledgeable about the national climate action plan, including promoting conservation agriculture methods, as well as building resilience and adaptive capacities.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Rural Development recently reported that this year’s maize harvest will be 70% smaller than the previous season due to severe drought damage.
As per the Ministry’s outlook report, Zimbabwe’s maize production is projected to reach approximately 696,116 tonnes, a significant decline from the estimated 2.3 million tonnes for 2023.
