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Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

THE national statistics agency, ZimStat yesterday launched the inaugural 2025 Economic Census in Bulawayo with the objective of producing comprehensive baseline statistics on the size and structure of the economy.

The statistics are key for evidence-based policy formulation, decision-making and strategic planning in addition to Gross Domestic Product compilation.

The scheduled Economic Census is expected to run from January 2025 until the end of 2026. Preparatory activities, including mapping of business locations, will commence in 2024.

Preliminary results are expected by the end of first quarter 2027, with final results by the end of the second quarter of the same year.

Speaking at the launch yesterday, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Professor Mthuli Ncube said in keeping with the Devolution Agenda, the 2025 Economic Census will provide valuable insights into the geographical spread of both the business establishments and economic activities across the country.

He said the Economic Census is meant to track the strides made by the country during the National Development Strategy 1 and it will provide a baseline for the National Development strategy 2, which will run from 2026 to 2030.

“In pursuit of our transformative and inclusive development agenda, the country launched Vision 2030 of becoming a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income economy society.

“To warrant fruition of this noteworthy drive, the 2021-2025 National Development Strategy (NDS) 1 was developed to propel inclusive and sustainable economic growth. It is therefore of paramount importance that an Economic Census be conducted for ground truthing of the country’s achievements, at the same time, providing baseline statistical information for the successor National Development Strategy 2 running from 2026-2030,” said Prof Ncube.

“Statistics produced from the census will also inform on progress made towards regional, continental and global initiatives including the Africa Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals.”

The 2025 Economic Census will be conducted under the provisions of the Census and Statistics Act [CHAPTER 10:29].

International guidelines and standards will also be observed to ensure the statistics are locally relevant, at the same time being regionally and internationally comparable.

He said in line with the “leaving no one and no place behind” mantra, the 2025 Economic Census will also cover Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs).

By obtaining data from MSMEs, Prof Ncube said development initiatives for the sector will be more informed, ultimately making the MSMEs thrive and at the same time, contributing significantly to the economy. MSMEs are a key to economic growth in Zimbabwe and the world at large with the sector employing more than 70 percent of the total population.

The sector is contributing immensely to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The inaugural 2025 Economic Census is a priority project that the Government of Zimbabwe is fully committed to ensure its success. As such, maximum support is expected from the business community through the provision of timely and truthful information, be it state-owned enterprises or privately owned businesses, whether registered or not registered.”

He added that due to the magnitude of the work preceding the execution of the 2025 Economic Census, Provincial Development Coordinators (PDCs) are again expected to coordinate related activities in their respective provinces.

Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube urged the business community including MSMEs to cooperate with ZimStat staff during data collection.
She said proper data presentation will help in decision making and service delivery as she said distorted data will promote poor service delivery.

Minister Ncube also commended the statistics agency for embracing the devolution agenda by producing Gross Domestic Product estimates at provincial level.
ZimStat acting director general Mrs Mationesa Phiri said the Economic Census will start by mapping business enumeration areas which involve the identification of business locations, where establishments are operating from.

This will be followed by the listing of all establishments.

“Our first survey will begin with our small entities which will run for the whole year from January to December 2025 then 2026 April we will embark on collection of information from medium and large establishments,” said Mrs Phiri.

She also said preliminary results are expected by the end of the first quarter 2027, with final results by the end of the second quarter of the same year. —@SikhulekelaniM1