Zimbabwe has launched its new economic development plan, which is expected to drive the upper middle income status by 2030 goal.
The new economic plan – the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) 2021-2025 – succeeds the Transitional Stabilization Plan (TSP), which comes to an end this year.
“This Plan is indeed the successor to the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (2018-2020) which is coming to an end on 31 December 2020.
“It becomes the first 5-year Medium Term Plan as the country moves forward on the trajectory towards realising the country’s Vision 2030. The second 5-year Medium Term plan will cover the years 2026 -2030,” said Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube.
Launching the new plan in the Capital, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the plan is targeting an average 5% GDP growth for the next 5 years.
“To ensure that the country keeps track with the objective of Vision 2030 of attaining an Upper Middle Income status by 2030, NDS1 will focus on Growing the economy at an average rate of 5% per annum between 2021 and 2025,” he said.
Such growth, he added, will be underpinned by success of the agriculture, mining, manufacturing and tourism sectors.
“In the agriculture sector, bold and strategic measures will be undertaken to ensure that we become food self-sufficient by 2025, and restore our regional breadbasket status. Bold and strategic measures to resolve security of land tenure will be taken and adoption of smart agriculture strategies will be prioritised and implemented.
“In the manufacturing sector, deliberate and practical steps to domesticate most value chains, strengthen existing value chains as well as develop new ones. Measures will pursued to transform the economy from a low productivity natural resource driven to a higher productivity modern economy, which produces higher value products, in the process creating significant decent formal jobs for our young people,” said the President.
“In mining, measures will be put in place to strengthen governance in the sector while improving the ease of doing business. Programmes will be undertaken to enhance exploration, formalisation and capacitation of small scale miners. Further, Government will prioritise plugging of mineral leakages.”