Zambia’s Ministry of Finance estimates that real GDP growth in 2018 was 3.7 percent, representing a 0.2% increase from 2017.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) is an inflation-adjusted measure that reflects the value of all goods and services produced by an economy in a given year, expressed in base-year prices, and is often referred to as “constant-price,” “inflation-corrected” GDP or “constant dollar GDP.” Nominal GDP on the other hand is GDP evaluated at current market prices. Therefore, nominal GDP will include all of the changes in market prices that have occurred during the current year due to inflation or deflation.
“Preliminary estimates indicate that real GDP growth in 2018 was 3.7 percent, which was slightly higher than the growth of 3.5 percent recorded in 2017”, read the Annual Report that was presented by the Minister of Finance Margret Mwanakatwe at an event in Lusaka on the 10th of May 2018. “The key drivers for the growth were the information and communications, mining, electricity, manufacturing and construction sectors. The agriculture sector contracted on account of erratic rainfall which affected crop production in the southern half of the country.”