This blog is aimed to explain about the general overview of the country Zimbabwe's economic condition, economic crisis, its leader - Robert Mugabe, his policies, and how it affected the country. Enjoy!

"How did the change of policies in Zimbabwe affect its development over time?"

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Hello everyone!

This is Briana Salim, from grade 10A in Binus School Simprug. 
This website is aimed to explain about Zimbabwe's history and its economy. 


Zimbabwe is a country located in Southern Africa between the Zambezi river and the Limpopo river. The country is bounded by Mozambique to the east, Zambia to the north and north west, South Africa to the south, and Botswana in its south west. Harare is the capital city of Zimbabwe, a commercial and industrial business center for the country. It has President Robert Mugabe as their head of state, government and commander in chief for the armed forces. Robert Mugabe, their authoritarian figure, is responsible for the problems in the area of human rights and the economic decline suffered by the country.
Map of Zimbabwe. Source: http://expeditions.younglife.org/Country%20Pages/zimbabwe%20map.gif

In the present day, Zimbabwe has a GDP of $10.3 billion, with a low 3% growth and an estimate of 8.9% growth per 5 years. Its GDP per capita is $788. Zimbabwe's economy is highly dependent on agricultural products such as tobacco, cotton and sugar cane. Its major export commodities are tobacco and horticulture. Crops such as sugar, tea, cotton, coffee, maize, seeds, grains and oilseeds are also exported by the country. Their importers include South Africa, China, Hong Kong, and Belgium. These exports get to about $2,228. 
This picture shows the countries that import Zimbabwe's tobacco. Source: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8265/8612756764_1a37ebb660.jpg

Zimbabwe's imports are mostly motor vehicles and machinery, fuel and also food supplies. This country's main import partners are South Africa, United Kingdom and China. But recently, China is starting to loosen its support for Zimbabwe because of the Zimbabwean President - Robert Mugabe's inefficient ideologies. Their import get to about $7,078. Zimbabwe also has small markets in America, Europe, African and in the Far East. 
Trading Partners of Zimbabwe. Source: https://www.newsday.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Zimbabwe-Imports-by-Trade1.jpg

Mining in Zimbabwe contributes to about 4.3% of the GDP, employing about 7% of the country's labor forces and earning 40% of the foreign exchange. Tourism also highly contributes to about 5% of the GDP and employs both directly and indirectly over 83,000 people in the country. Zimbabwe has very diversified tourism resources, however; there is very limited development of these variety of attractions because of the insufficient support from the government and the lack of promotional activities. 

In this website, you will be able to find Zimbabwe's economic crisis, information on Robert Mugabe and his policies, impacts on Zimbabwe both negatively and positively, Zimbabwe's economic condition in the present day, and how this country's economic reform attempts compare to China's.