President, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa on U.S. Relations, Domestic Reforms, Economy
Sep.05 -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa discusses improving relations with the U.S. and his efforts to revive the country's economy. He spoke Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg's Manus Cranny in Cape Town.
About Emmerson Dambudzo
Emmerson Mnangagwa delivered a speech at Zimbabwe’s 46th Independence Anniversary in Maphisa on April 18, 2026. He paid tribute to liberation war veterans from Matabeleland South Province, including the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, and stated that the country now owns and produces from the land they fought for. He said the government is making progress in climate-proofing agriculture through delinking food production from rainfall dependency, and that food assistance is available to affected communities through programs such as Isiphala Senkosi and Zunde raMambo. Mnangagwa said the economy has registered "commendable growth" based on a stable macroeconomic environment, citing foreign currency reserves of more than US$1.2 billion and a single-digit annual inflation rate of 4.1% in January 2026. He stated that exchange rate stability benefited from foreign currency inflows exceeding US$16 billion, driven by exports of gold, tobacco, and platinum group metals, as well as diaspora remittances. He also said the 2024-2025 summer season produced 2.4 million tons of maize and 635,000 tons of traditional grains, exceeding national annual grain requirements, and that the 2025 winter wheat harvest surpassed 640,000 tons. He called for more to be done to ensure full financial inclusivity and commended the banking sector for returning to its core business.
Transcript (27 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Interviewer0:00
If I was to say to you, encapsulate your biggest achievement in office so far, what would that be?
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Emmerson Dambudzo0:04
It is the fact that we are bringing stability. Zimbabwe is now open for business. Zimbabwe has introduced a foreign policy for engagement and re-engagement. We are desirous now to join the family of nations after 20 years, two decades, of isolation. And I'm happy that most world capitals are giving us positive signals of acceptance.
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Interviewer0:38
What can I ask you then? What have the discussions been with the United States of America? They have the strongest sanctions against Zimbabwe.
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Emmerson Dambudzo0:44
I'm happy that dialogue with the Trump administration is ongoing. I have met several of his staffers in various fora, and I'm happy with the progress we are making, which has never happened for the last 20 years. So I'm very positive that this dialogue will continue to yield positive results towards the removal of the sanctions.
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Interviewer1:12
Do you think that could happen in 2019 or is that a 2020 event?
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Emmerson Dambudzo1:17
I would not put a timeframe. What is critically important is that we are engaging and we are receiving positive response from some of them. We still have some members in this administration, some hawks, who are still very hard on Zimbabwe.
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Interviewer1:42
What are they asking you to deliver that they say you need to do well?
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Emmerson Dambudzo1:46
They are still of the opinion that the land reform which we carried out was necessary, which we disagree. It was necessary because the land reform was focused on equalizing the situation in the country where 70% of our land was in the hands of about 6,000 farmers from Britain and 30% of our land was in the hands of 8 million Zimbabweans. But that is now behind us. We have done our land reform program where 363,000 families have now been settled on land. And we are saying to them, the land issue is behind us.
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Interviewer2:36
Is it really behind? Is the land issue really dealt with?
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Emmerson Dambudzo2:41
Only to the extent that the distribution has been done. What is there now? We have a land commission which is auditing how fairly it was distributed, because we come to incidences where some people have more land than is designated in the ecological region of that area, and where persons may have more than one farm. That is not allowed. That audit is going on now so that we equalize and ensure there has been fair distribution of the land.
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Interviewer3:12
Can I ask you? One of your biggest supporters was Lord Haines, and he recently wrote... One of your biggest supporters when you came to power was the British Lord Haines, and he said the Zimbabwe government as it stands now is betraying every promise that it made to rebuild and renew after the despotism of Mugabe. The risk, sir, is that there is a global perception that you have not moved far enough and aggressively enough to reform. What do you say to those detractors?
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Emmerson Dambudzo3:44
The issue is we cannot move at the pace of an individual in another country. We are moving at the pace of what is possible in Zimbabwe, the concrete effects on the ground. We must not leave anybody behind. With institutions in our country where we have a parliament, all the changes which we have to go through all the parliamentary procedures. Some feel that the process is slow, but we cannot omit any of the steps as demanded by the constitution or demanded by our diversity of municipal laws in the country. What is critical is that we know where we want to go. We want to liberalize the economy. We are making economic reforms and they are going to achieve that. Yes, some people are saying the pace is wrong, but we are telling them that we cannot jump any procedures, otherwise tomorrow it will haunt us again.
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Interviewer4:48
Well, there is certainly hindering the currency, that is for sure. And there is a lack of confidence in the Zimbabwean dollar. What do you say to the detractors on the currency who are attacking it?
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Emmerson Dambudzo4:58
You realize that for the last two decades, our currency collapsed, totally collapsed, as a result of those sanctions. And for us surviving, we then introduced in 2009 a basket of currencies that included the American dollar, the pound, the euro, the rand, and so on. But now we realize that it is necessary to introduce a mono currency. But there are still attacks on that mono currency. Yes, you don't expect that everybody will go with you whatever you want to do. How are you going to defend this currency? We have to make sure that the fundamental of any currency, certainly Zimbabwe's, is that the currency must be anchored on some reserves. As I told you, our economy totally collapsed, so we are beginning from the bottom of the trough so that we build reserves and there are fundamentals in place which can support a new currency. Anyway, on that process, for somebody who says it must be done today, is it possible? We have to move step by step so that we succeed.
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Interviewer6:19
What part of that step-by-step process is information for the global investment community in the form of inflation data? You have inflation ratcheting away. Why has the government stopped releasing inflation results? We need that data to look at the currency, to look at the country.
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Emmerson Dambudzo6:36
In the past it was based on the multicurrency system. By this method, now that we are moving back to a new platform, we need a period of about 10 months or so to build the statistics on which we can now base the currency. We cannot base the current mono currency on the basis of a collapsed multicurrency system. So by much next year, the statistics will be out. Yes, we are currently building internally, and we have people complaining that we still need this to be done. But we feel that it is necessary to be correct and to be solid, so we need to build a basis upon which to maintain a currency. A commitment to deliver inflation data to the market by March of next year? I'm not making this today. It has been made before by my Minister of Finance, it has been communicated. But there may be people who have not taken on board that information, but it is there.
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Interviewer7:44
OK, let's try and tie two things together. We have soaring inflation. The only other country I suppose in a similar state is Venezuela. Is the economy of Zimbabwe in a similar state to Venezuela?
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Emmerson Dambudzo7:57
I'm not sure I understand what is happening in Venezuela.
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Interviewer8:00
Well, they are having a fairly tough time.
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Emmerson Dambudzo8:03
Well, they are having a tough time. I don't know if the situation is similar to ours. Those sorts of comparisons can be misleading. I am in charge of my country, and I must look at what is necessary to resurrect and grow my economy. Zimbabwe will succeed despite the constraint of the sanctions that are there. But we cannot sit back and say 'oh well.' We have to use the resources which we have to create a situation, an environment, to attract global capital to come into our country and jurisdiction under the conditions in which we live.
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Interviewer8:57
To attract that foreign capital, it is about relationships with your creditors. Talk to Bloomberg about where we are with debt forgiveness, with your creditors.
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Emmerson Dambudzo9:04
Yes, we are doing everything possible to approach our creditors worldwide to give them the assurances we are giving to give us a breathing space, and to assure them that we are committed to honoring our debts. That is going on.
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Interviewer9:23
Have you received any extension?
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Emmerson Dambudzo9:25
Every time there are specific plans they want to see. This is when we will put our case. But we have only been about 10 months in office, so we have to be modest. Fortunately, I am able to say that most of the G7 countries we are talking to, some are giving us advice on what to do. And I'm happy that this is what is happening.
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Interviewer9:49
Who is the most supportive? Most of the G7 countries are very... I've been very warmed to us. Unlike in the past where they gave us their back, today we talk friendly to France and so on.
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Emmerson Dambudzo10:03
Thank you very much for being with Bloomberg today, sir.
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Interviewer10:08
Thank you, most welcome.