Zimbabwe’s economy will grow faster than expected in 2018, from an estimate of 4.5 per cent to 5 percent, the central bank said on Monday.

Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya, in his first post-election monetary policy statement, in Harare said the new government reforms would kick-start growth that had languished for more than two decades.

Mangudya also hinted that rebalancing the economy would require “painful measures”.

He announced a plan to separate local and foreign currency bank accounts and a new tax on goods and trucks as part of measures to ease the shortage of U.S. dollars since the country dumped its own currency in 2009. (Reuters/NAN)