From Reuters Africa

Zimbabwe could miss its 6.4 percent growth target this year but the final number will not be as low as some international lenders have predicted, finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Monday.

The World Bank has downgraded the southern African country’s growth to 3 percent this year. The International Monetary Fund says the economy is fragile and sees growth of 4 percent.

Chinamasa had premised his 2014 growth forecast on a recovery in agriculture and a strong performance in mining.

Chinamasa told a parliamentary committee on finance that agriculture, which was expected to grow 9 percent, had performed “reasonably” well after output of the staple maize, tobacco and sugar surpassed targets.

Mining in a country with the world’s second largest reserves of platinum had been hobbled by weak metal prices during the first half of the year, and a number of new mining ventures that were expected had not taken off, Chinamasa said.

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