Zimbabwe
Report by the WTO Secretariat
Zimbabwe’s renewed commitment to fiscal discipline and its de facto adoption of the U.S. dollar as legal tender as a result of the implementation of its multi-currency system in February 2009 have brought some encouraging signs towards macroeconomic stabilization. Nevertheless Zimbabwe’s economy is still in a fragile state with high unemployment depleted international reserves and unsustainably high external debt including a major accrual of arrears. A fractious socio-political environment combined with a controversial land reform and measures in favour of indigenization has triggered the withdrawal of support from the international community and cast a shadow over property rights thereby undermining the business environment with a devastating impact on Zimbabwe’s economic performance and social indicators over the past decade.
Preface
The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) was first established on a trial basis by the GATT CONTRACTING PARTIES in April 1989. The Mechanism became a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization under the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO in January 1995.