Economy to shrink 13%, deficit balloons to P10.8bn - Matsheka

Should the projection be realized, 2020/21’s contraction will be worse than the 7.7% witnessed in 2009 when the global recession pounded the local economy at one point forcing diamond production to stop. Government’s forecast for 2020/21 is worse than the IMF’s recently released projection of -5.4% growth.

From an initial forecast of 4.4% growth for this year, Matsheka laid out a depressing chain of revisions to the budget and the broader economy, in a televised briefing this afternoon.