Zimbabwe’s foreign currency inflows surged by 47.8 percent to US$10.72 billion in the first half of 2026, supported by the country’s robust growth momentum, the central bank said.
The country forex inflows stood at US$7.25 billion in same comparable period prior year.
“The higher foreign currency inflows exceeded the cumulative foreign currency payments ofUS$7.30 billion recorded between January and June 2026,” Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mushayavanhu said in his mid-term monetary policy statement.
“Reflecting the increased foreign exchange inflows, reserves increased to US$1.7 billion by end of July 2026, equivalent to approximately 1.7 months of import cover,” he said.
The central bank chief said the foreign currency reserves were enough to cover the local ZiG money.
“The available foreign currency reserves of US$1.7 billion adequately cover the local reserve money of ZiG6.6 billion by about six times and about 1.5 times the entire stock of ZiG deposits of ZiG28.9 billion as at 31 July 2026,” Mushayavanhu said.
This follows reports that Zimbabwe’s diaspora sent home $2.45 billion in 2025, with the United Kingdom overtaking South Africa as the country’s largest source of remittances.
Zimbabwe’s earlier remittance boom had already lifted inflows to $880 million in the first five months of 2025.
The country received about $709.6 million from the UK in 2025, compared with $702.6 million from South Africa, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The United States, Australia and other markets also contributed to the total, but the UK and South Africa together accounted for more than half of recorded inflows.