The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has shrugged off disruptions by the US-Iran war, maintaining its 2026 economic growth target at five percent.
This comes as the World Bank cut its outlook for global growth this year and said two-thirds of economies have seen prospects deteriorate as the Middle East war – expected to end after the US and Iran agreed to a peace deal this week – disrupts commodity flows and raises the cost of imports.
“Despite the disruptions to global supply chain logistics due to the Middle East conflict, the domestic economy has remained resilient and is expected to grow by five percent in 2026…,” said central bank governor John Mushayavanhu following a Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 15 June 2026.
Mushayavanhu said the robust economic growth momentum has supported increased foreign currency inflows amounting to US$8.3 billion as at 31 May 2026, compared to US$6 billion in the same period in 2025, representing a 39.1 percent increase.
“The elevated foreign currency inflows compared favourably with total foreign payments of US$5.9 billion realised during the same period,” the central bank chief said, adding that “accordingly, the net surplus inflows culminated into increased foreign currency deposits in the banking sector and foreign currency in circulation, which supported domestic transactions and exchange rate stability”.
The sustained increase in foreign currency inflows supported the accumulation of foreign currency reserves backing ZiG to over US$1.5 billion as at May 2026 – equivalent to 1.5 months of import cover.
“Further, the accumulation of foreign currency reserves enabled the Reserve Bank’s strategic intervention in the foreign exchange market to ensure that all bona fide foreign payment requirements are fully met and concomitantly reinforce exchange rate stability,” he said.
In this regard, Mushayavanhu said the ZiG/US$ exchange rate remained stable at between ZiG25–27/US$, with subdued parallel market activity.
He also noted that annual inflation was sustained below five percent – stood at 4.8 percent in April and 4.4 percent in May 2026 – indicating the partial pass-through of the oil price shock to domestic prices.