Zimbabwe will rebase its GDP following the adoption of a new currency (in February 2019), finance minister Mthuli Ncube (photo) indicated on May 15, 2019.

In February 2019, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe removed its bond note peg to the US dollar and adopted an electronic transitory currency called the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).

The country had already adopted a new GDP formula in October 2018. After the informal sector was accounted for in the GDP, the country’s GDP rose by 40% from $18 billion to $25.8 billion.

“The introduction of the RTGs dollar and the subsequent emergence of the exchange rate between the US dollar and the RTGs dollar have necessitated recalibration starting with the base indicator in the form of the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) to reflect the appropriate RTGs dollar value (…)Our projection for GDP in 2019 in RTGs dollars is $70.3 billion RTGs dollars,” he said before the parliament.

The minister added that the country recorded a 6.2% growth in 2018 against a 3.1% initial forecast.