Omega Ukama 
ZIMBABWE’S exports to South Africa SA dropped to US$7 million in April from US$22 million in February, as Covid-19 restrictions took a toll on foreign trade, official data shows. It comes as both Zimbabwe and SA have effected stringent restrictions on cross-border movements.
Data provided by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency shows that total exports hit a 4-month low of US$200 million during the month, down from US$366 million in February. Imports from SA during the month were US$97 million, from US$210 million in February, while total imports were down from US$4 million in February to US$224 million, the lowest on record. The Covid-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented disruption to the global economy and world trade, as production and consumption are scaled back across the globe,” the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said in a report earlier this year, which warned that trade could fall by as much as a third in 2020.
This crisis is first and foremost a health crisis, which has forced governments to take unprecedented measures to protect peoples lives. The unavoidable declines in trade and output will have painful consequences for households and businesses, on top of the human suffering caused by the disease itself,” it said. It also comes as global trade had been on a downturn during the months prior to the onset of the pandemic, when the world economy was going through its longest period of falling trade since the end of the financial crisis in 2009.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s trade balance for April was a negative US$24 million, the third consecutive deficit since the country recorded four straight surplus months on the back of reduced imports and illicit trades. Official data shows that the country’s cumulative deficit since 2009 has exceed US$20 billion. On average, Zimbabwe has recorded an annual trade deficit of US$2 billion since 2009. Local production has struggled to pick up over the years, with capacity utilisation dipping to below 35 percent while imports have grossly permeated the market.
